Panama Investor Blog

Immigration delays are #1 complaint from foreigners

Being the number one issue of complaint is not because it is the first thing that must be done in order to take advantage of the benefits Panama has to offer. I receive more complaints about this one subject than all others combined, year after year.  And they are usually the most passionate, because when it comes to having the right to reside where you have spent money,  people naturally become feisty. I am sure this article will bring many such comments and they are welcome. This problem has gone on for years, but in the last few years delays in immigration have reached a point where many foreigners just give up and take a pass on Panama. Part of this problem is the fact that more people than ever are trying to get residency and the government is ill equipped to handle it. Millions of dollars of new facility and equipment that were purchased to alleviate the problem are still not operating, and with a new administration coming into office they will have to learn the ropes which will no doubt cause further delays. And it does not seem to matter if you are an investor with 20 million dollars or a Costa Rican who married a Panamanian trying to get residency, plan on a long wait to get that all important document.

No one complains more than we promoters as we spend millions of advertising dollars to attract potential clients only to have them become so discouraged with immigration delays that they just say it is not worth it. Their stories echoing throughout the internet cause potential clients to not even give Panama a look. This is one area the new administration has promised to make a positive changes, but it will not come soon enough for those impatiently waiting years for what should take months. Hat tip to Kraig for sending me this article from El Siglo that I have posted after a google translation.

El Siglo

Lawyers say they are playing with them

Many lawyers are beginning Migration to believe that the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle was transferred to the Office of Visa 2, the National Migration Service (NMS) of Cuba Avenue.

Instead of planes and boats in the Caribbean, this office records disappear from foreigners seeking to acquire residence in the country.

"It is not a novelty that comes to notice and told you can not find the file," said Raul Andrade, president of the Law Society Specialist Migration Affairs (ADEM).

The situation should not surprise anyone. And is that with roles in cajeta pulled and put into any space that still remains free, is not an easy job for the officials of this department to locate any document.

Panama's second passport made easier to acquire

According to a new decree that was made March 2nd of this year, a significant reduction in deposit funds are requiered in order to recieve a Panama Passport that is good for 5 years.

Here is some  more on this from the Pardini Website.

By means of Executive Decree No. 26 of March 2, 2009, the Government of Panama significantly reduced from US$615,000 to US$260,000 the bank time deposit at the National Bank of Panama required to qualify for a Second Passport.

The new rule only requires that this deposit produces a minimum of only US$850.00 per month in interest which at current interest rates for a 5-year time deposit amounts to US$260,000.
About the Panama Second Passport, if you are looking to obtaining a second passport quickly, the only immigration program that provides that is the Panama Second Passport Program. This passport is excellent because is granted almost immediately and it lasts for 5 years, renewable.
We have found that the Panama Second Passport has been useful for Russian, Middle East and other nationalities with restricted entry into EU.
With the Panama Second Passport, they can enter most EU countries without Visa and without any invitation letters.
One important advantage when they travel with this Passport is that Panama has Visa-Free agreements with 40 countries.

Immigration backlog still a problem

Of all the complaints I hear about Panama bureaucracy, immigration delays top the list. No matter what an attorney tells you, you end up waiting many months longer than they told you when they took the fee to get you your residency. To be fair, it is usually not the fault of the attorney, but the fault of the government offices who are in charge of handling the paperwork. While we businessmen work diligently to get people interested to invest and to live live in Panama, it seems the government is working just as hard against these efforts by delaying what you would think to be a simple procedure.

Each new administration promises to make things easier and yet nothing seems to change except those doing the paperwork. The current administration built a new facility with new systems to the tune of over $13 million, but they are not up and running yet. Now with a new election and new administration taking over, you can be sure that chaos will reign for some time as those going out of office will try and make things difficult for those coming in, and those coming in know little or nothing about the job at hand. The challenge is that Panama does not have a civil service that is maintained from one administration to the next. Elections are usually won by promises of government jobs and that goes from top to bottom.

With all our new technology you would think that a system could be implemented that would take a great deal of paper pushing out of the process so the job could be done in a timely fashion. Maybe the new administration will come up with a better way of handling this important part of bringing in foreign investment.

Excerpt from La Prensa "Director pledges to end delays": Because of complaints about the backlog of residency applications, the National Immigration Service has announced that it will extend its workday to 15 hours in order to reduce the waiting time for requests.

The lawyers held the protest to pressure the agency to reduce the backlog, which has been a problem for years but was exacerbated when it received a flood of applications prior to changes in immigration policies that went into effect in August of last year.

Immigration received an estimated 26,000 residency applications between January 2007 and March 2009.

Read the rest of the story

Do you have enough money to get into Panama?

An article in today's La Prensa brought to my attention what I consider a crazy way of handling foreigners coming into Panama at border crossings. In this case a Nicaraguan was complaining that the immigration guards make him show at least $500 in cash and then mark the bills so he can't give them to others in order for them to show they have sufficient means to leave the country. I have seen this activity first hand with foreigners at the border who must show cash or credit card to prove they are self-sufficient and are not coming into the country to "take advantage of the system".

Panama has implemented this policy over the last year or so which forces everyone who is not Panamanian to show they have at least $500 when entering at a border. No money and you can't come in. The Nicaraguan who filed the complaint said it put him at risk because when he goes to spend  any of his money, people know by the marking that he had at least $500 and he becomes a target for robbery. Makes sense to me. What does not make a lot of sense is the policy to require the showing of the money or credit card. Everyday there are busloads of foreigners coming into Panama and the fact that they have $500 does not mean they will leave the country when it is gone. It only means they have $500 that they may or may not spend in the country. To my knowledge, Panama is the only country that has such an archaic system in place that puts a tremendous financial burden on the poor vacationer or visitor not to mention risk.

I was very embarrassed when I went through border immigration when some back packers could not get in after taking the bus all the way from San Jose because they did not have enough cash or a credit card. They said they get Western Union when they need money. So instead of having visitors here spending some money, we turn them away, leaving them with a bad image of Panama and our otherwise welcoming nature. The border is one of the best places to take advantage of a gateway where we can show how welcoming a country we are to guests and strangers alike. Time for a change!
From La Prensa

A Nicaraguan visitor complained to the media yesterday about the practice of border agents at Paso Canoa marking bills presented by foreigners who bring cash with them into the country to prove their economic solvency.

That requirement, the tourist said, makes visitors a target for criminals. Immigration law states that foreigners who apply for a tourist visa have to submit proof of financial solvency, which can not be less than $500. Immigration officers started marking bills to prevent travelers from passing money to each other.

The tourist's complaint, however, was based on the fact that if a person uses one of the marked bills, the recipient will know the person has a large amount of cash. Immigration officials said that visitors have a number of options to prove their economic solvency when applying for a tourist visa, which allows them to stay in the country for 30 days.

Immigration options for Panama

It is my bet that as the economy deteriorates in the city and the country as a whole, Panama will offer even better immigration options in the future. It is natural when things are going well that they make the doorway narrow, but the reverse is true when things take a turn for the worse. This is from Pardini website so if you have a questions you can go directly to them.

Pardini & Asociados

New Regulations of the Immigration Law

By means of Law Decree No. 3 of February 22nd, 2008 and the executive decree No. 320 of August 8th, 2008, the Panamanian government approved the new immigration law and its regulation that entered into force as of August 26th, 2008. The new legislation modifies existent visa programs and creates new programs in accordance to existent economic and political situation of Panama. The most outstanding changes by new migratory regulations are: -  Simplifies migratory categories -  Changes in government fees and expenses -  Strict penalties for illegal permanence within the country -  Creation of new temporally residence visas -  The Increase of funds required in order to apply to some visa programs Migratory categories The new rules simplify the categories in non residents, temporally residents and permanent residents. Non Residents Visa Tourist:  Visitors are allowed to stay up to 90 days within the Panamanian territory.  The stay allowed will depend upon immigration officers and country of origin. Short Stay Visa: These visas are granted up to 9 months to visitors willing to carry out different activities such as: -      Setting business subsidiaries or branches in Panama -       Relatives visit -       Scientist and research -       Medical treatment -       Potential Investments for call centers, exporting processing zones, film industry -       Natural disasters refuges -       Potential  investments in Banking sector Temporally Residence Visa ·         Employment: These visas are granted up to 6 years (renewal every year) to petitioners hired  or to be hire within the following sectors: - Colon Free Zone Executive: Minimum salary US$ 2,000.00 - Employees within 10% workforce: Minimum salary US$ 850.00 - Expert or technical staff within 15% workforce:   Minimum salary US$ 850.00 - Workforce hired in accordance to Marrakech Accord:   Minimum salary US$ 1,000.00 ·         Investments: These visas are granted up to 6 years (renewal every 2 years) to petitioners willing to invest within the following activities: -  Agriculture Investor: Investment of US$ 60,000.00 -  Film making industry:  Labor contract -  Executive for International Companies    (activity must take effect out of Panamanian territory): Minimum salary US$ 1,000.00 -  Multinational Regional Headquarter employees:  Salary must be paid from abroad. Permanent Residence ·         Economic reasons: These visas allows  petitioners to obtain permanent residence by fulfilling the following proceedings: 1.   Filing a residence permit  for 2 years 2.   Filing a permanent residence petition 3.   Filing a petition for the procurement of citizenship Programs -  Reforestation:  Investment US$ 80,000.00 -  Large Investor:  Investment US$ 160,000.00 -  Self Sufficient funds (Person of means):    300 K CD deposit, 300 K real estate purchase or mix    investment (CD deposit & real estate purchase) ·         Special Policies :These visas allows  petitioners to obtain permanent residence by fulfilling the following proceedings 1. Filing a residence permit  for 2 years 2. Filing a permanent residence petition 3. Filing a petition for the procurement of citizenship Programs -  Retired Annuitant Visa (2nd Passport):    set a CD deposit that produces US$ 2,000.00 interests per month -  Tourist Pensioned: pension of US$ 1,000.00 per month ·         Other Permanent Residence Programs: These visas allows  petitioners to obtain permanent residence by fulfilling the following proceedings Programs -  Employees hired as permanent staff of Panama canal authority:  Labor contract -  Panama Pacific Investor:  Investment US$ 250,000.00 -  Employees hired as permanent staff of an operator in     the special economic area (Panama-Pacific): Labor contract -  Export  processing zone investor: Investment US$ 250,000.00 -  Film making industry investor:  Investment US$ 150,000.00

Source of this article :

What? No more bribes at immigration?

This short article from La Prensa says that immigration workers were fired this week for corruption because of the new immigration regulations that recently took affect. I find it interesting that the immigration office admits that people were paying off immigration workers to get their cases expedited as if this was an unusual occurrence.  If the government were to work on efficiency in this important office, there would be no need for bribery.

Reforms focus on reducing dishonesty

The changes to the country's immigration laws that went into effect last month are already having an impact on how business is conducted at Migración offices.

According to Tayra Barsallo, deputy director of the Servicio Nacional de Migración, several staff members have been fired for alleged acts of corruption at the agency, which the changes are designed to eliminate.

“There have been several cases in several provinces, including Panama City,” Barsallo said. “There are people who do not understand that Migración has changed and that it wants to be an entity that provides five star-service.”

One of the changes made at the institution is that paralegals and lawyer assistants must now be registered with the entity.

“We will not receive any documentation from an attorney's assistant who has not previously registered,” Barsallo said. “Lawyers must be aware that have taken this step to prevent people from falling prey to scams and frauds.”

One of the complaints about Migración is that applicants were able to pay bribes in order to get their cases handled more expeditiously. Another complaint was that some lawyer's assistants had greater influence with officials working there.

By requiring these assistants to register with the agency, officials hope to cut down on these complaints.

Overview of new immigration law

Eric Jackson did a brief write up on the immigration law and its components that are important to those considering living here. I post it with permission. You can go to Eric's Panama News for a lot of other interesting information about Panama. The one thing he neglected to put in this piece is that if you want to stay in Panama and spend your money past the regular 30 days it will cost you a cool $250 extra.

On August 8, many months after a new immigration law was passed by way of a February 22 decree, another decree set forth the regulations that are the heart of that law. As early as March draft versions of the decree were circulated among lawyers and passed on by them to other interested parties, and it appears that some of the concerns raised were addressed.
      
Foreigners who already have their legal residency here are "grandfathered in," but in many respects the requirements to live here have become more expensive.
      
Whereas it used to be that one could become a pensionado by proving an pension income of $500 per month (or $750 for a couple), now that has gone up to $1000. However, a retiree who owns property worth at least $100,000 in Panama only has to prove a pension of $750 per month. A person who comes in as a pensionado with dependents will have to pay $250 for each dependent.
      
One who owns sufficient assets but has an insufficient pension may get residency by depositing enough money in the Banco Nacional de Panama or Caja de Ahorros to yield at least $2000 per month in interest.
      
In general residency visas for investors require higher investments than before. For example, it will now require an investment of $60,000 to get a visa as an agricultural or reforestation investor, rather than the previous $40,000.
      
The costs of visas, permits and fees for filing various documents have been raised.
      
The argument for making tourist visas extendable to six months as they used to be fell on deaf ears. Tourist visas are for a maximum of 90 days, but there appears to be no ban on the common practice of leaving the country for a few days and coming back to get another three-month tourist visa. There is the possibility of a 60-day extension of a tourist visa while applying to get another immigration status, this being a concession to the pleas of real estate interests who argued that 90 days was not enough time for somebody to come here, find and buy a home and go through the motions of becoming a resident.
      
Pleas for provisions to allow immigration to unify families elicited a limited response. As before, spouses get in, as can unmarried dependent children under 25 years of age on a temporary basis. Citizens and legal residents will be allowed to bring their parents in, provided that they can prove that they can support them. There will also be a possibility of non-extendable 9-month visas for other relatives with two degrees of consanguinity, but such visas don't allow such relatives to legally work here.
      
Every foreigner will have to register with a central registry and update his or her registration by informing Migracion of any change in address, any alteration in economic status that may affect eligibility for a particular sort of visa and any change in marital status. Failure to register or repeated failure to properly update will be grounds to have a visa revoked.
      
All foreigners will be issued an identity card. The process of getting these was to have begun August 26, but the government didn't make adequate plans to implement that, so look for further notice about when, where and how to get these ID cards.
      
People who get residency visas after August 26 will have their status reviewed after two years.
      
Historically Migracion has been one of the most corrupt parts of the Panamanian government. There is no particular reason to believe that this new law or these new regulations will do anything to change that. One change that has been recently implemented (not as part of the law or regulations) reduces transparency: whereas one could check any foreigner's residency status on the Migracion website, now these records are unavailable to the public.
      

      

        
      

Immigration move delayed

If your trying to get a visa right now your in for additional delays and hassles. The new immigration laws are scheduled to go into effect September 1st and the department is not even close to being ready. There new building is not complete and their new $7 million system is not installed. But anyone wanting to get a visa will still have to comply even though the government agency will not. The second article gives you a glimpse into how deep the rabbit hole goes. In Panama chaos reigns!

From La Prensa

Just a few days remain before new immigration legislation comes into force, prompting an 11th-hour flood of visa applications and tourist permit renewals at the Dirección Nacional de Migración. Though the agency plans to move to a larger building on Tumba Muerto, immigration officials now predict the backlog will delay that relocation by several months.

That news is sure to unsettle Migración customers and workers alike, as the capacity and conditions at the current location, on Avenida Cuba, have long been criticized as inadequate for the crowds that arrive daily.

Migración Director Clovis Sinisterra confirmed the news, and explained that the move may not happen before December. The good news, however, is that the entity has already obtained the resources necessary to adapt and equip the new building, estimated at $7.1 million. On the other hand, that work won’t be assigned for at least another 70 to 80 days, while the required paperwork is processed.

That means the move will likely take place in early 2009, said Sinisterra.

In addition to the new requirements, affecting Panamanians and immigrants alike, the Dirección Nacional de Migración will become the Servicio Nacional de Migración, a change mainly in name.

Although the immigration reforms were approved and announced in the Gaceta Oficial in February, a six-month grace period was granted for preparations to be made.

Migración gears up as new laws take effect

Carlos Lemos/La Prensa

crowded: Long lines outside the Direccion de Migración are expected to lengthen next Tuesday, when new immigration requirements go into effect.1077421

It’s midday and the scene outside the Dirección de Migración, on Avenida Cuba, resembles a flea market. A motley crowd of hopeful immigrants, lawyers, and officials hurry in and out of the building’s front doors, some lining up haphazardly as street vendors push by peddling goods.

Inside the building, a sea of humanity squeezes into tiny rooms and elbows through narrow hallways and patience runs thin as the lines grow longer. Migración facilities are already stretched beyond maximum capacity, and the situation is about to get worse as new immigration legislation affecting the majority of foreign nationals living in the country goes into effect next Tuesday.

Since the updated requirements mean increased fees, higher fines and more bureaucracy, the changes have not gone over well.

“My son and I are legal, but we need to follow up on our immigration status in order to renew work permits,” commented José Granado, a Colombian immigrant. “It’s a formality that shouldn’t take more than eight days and cost more than $10. But it took 19 days, and we paid about $200 to our lawyers and we still don’t have the document.”

Fellow Colombian Elsy Narvaez said the crowding problem is due to bureaucracy.

“How is it possible that registering for a passport, which costs only a dollar, requires three steps and wastes a lot of time?” she wondered.

According to Clovis Sinisterra, the director of the entity, the complaints represent poor planning on the part of immigrants and, above all else, money.

Sinisterra reiterated that the changes to immigration legislation were discussed at length last year before being approved. The information was then made public in February 2008.

Fees for all services have gone up. Repatriation will increase from $500 to $800, and fines for expired tourist permits will cost $50 for each month following expiration, with a maximum of $300.

Sinisterra mentioned that operating hours at Migración have been extended until 5 p.m. to deal with the influx, and staff will occasionally be on hand until 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The office will be open today, despite the government announcement of a holiday to celebrate Olympian Irving Saladino’s return, and this Saturday until 1 p.m.

Immigration needs more time for changes

As I had posted last week, there are some difficulties in the governments plan to implement the new immigration regulations that are supposed to be started at the end of this month. In this article that came out today in La Prensa, I found an interesting piece of news about the regulations that I was not aware of. They are implementing a new Internet system that will allow much of the immigration paper work and filing  to be done on line. Although this may come as welcome news to expats, I am sure it does not sit well with the many attorneys who make a good living from this kind of work. When I asked my attorney how she felt about the new regulations she laughed and said, it will still come down to who you know to get it done in a timely fashion. I think the fact that they will be months behind on implementation tells me she is probably right. Not to worry, this is Panama!

Exceprt;
The Dirección de Cedulación of the Tribunal Electoral doesn’t have the technology platform to deliver a new identity card to foreigners who have permanent citizenship in the country. And the department will have to wait five more months to move into its new headquarters as construction on it is running behind schedule.

Also not yet ready is a $5 million software system that will allow foreigners to submit most of the immigration paperwork over the Internet. Barsallo said the agency expects to install that system sometime next year.

New immigration ID card puts the cart before the horse

Even though we have not seen the regulations for the immigration law, the government has required all foreigners to have a new ID by the end of this month. But fear not, the chaos continues and the immigration department says there is no way they will be able to make these ID's in time. This is business as usual here in Panama, where the government implements a new policy without giving enough thought on how to implement it. This article points out that the immigration office does not even have a computer system capable of tracking the new ID's of 81,000 foreigners residing in the country, even if their cards were available. Some interesting statistics that seem to conflict with previous numbers of immigrants come out of the article as well.

The immigration changes impact an estimated 82,000 foreigners living in Panama. About 17,000 of these are Chinese and 13,000 are Colombian. TE records, however, indicate that the agency does not know the nationality of 21,000 of those residents. That is one of the issues that the new immigration changes will attempt to rectify.

Here is the complete story from La Presna;

Deadline for new ID cards extended

Tribunal Electoral officials said that they won’t be able to meet an Aug. 26 deadline.

Despite the fact that there are 23 days before the country's new immigration policies are supposed to be implemented, the Tribunal Electoral (TE) is woefully behind in preparing for the changes.

One of the changes is that foreigners residing in Panama will need to change their identity cards. But TE officials readily admit that they still need to work out the procedures for changing the cards, and that the Aug. 26 deadline will not be met.

According to the law, foreigners have up to one year to complete the process of obtaining a new residency card, or they could face penalties including loss of residency.

According to Tayra Barsallo, deputy director of Migración, the change will allow authorities to specify which foreigners are really residing in Panama, and which are living outside the country. The law states that because the rule states that those who are for more than two years outside the territory will lose their residence.

“That means that whoever does not contact the TE to get a new identification document can lose their residency,” Barsallo said.

The TE's national director of Cedulación, Luis Bermúdez, said that the agency must first complete the installation of a computer system to track the issuing of the new identity cards. Then the process for the changing of the identity cards needs to be established. Finally, a date for the implementation of these measures needs to be determined.

There will also be a fee associated with obtaining the new identity cards, but that also has yet to be determined.

The immigration changes impact an estimated 82,000 foreigners living in Panama. About 17,000 of these are Chinese and 13,000 are Colombian.

TE records, however, indicate that the agency does not know the nationality of 21,000 of those residents. That is one of the issues that the new immigration changes will attempt to rectify.

While the changes to the identity requirements will be delayed, if is unclear whether the other immigration changes passed by the government will be implemented on schedule. The changes were approved in February.