Panama Hotels and Restaurants to be rated in a 5 star system

Finally, Panama (and Costa Rica), will introduce a rating system for all hotels and restaurants based on actual level of services and facilities.

Up to date it has not been easy to understand the quality of a hotel and the prices for low quality accommodation has increased rapidly during the last few years. With the new rating system, hopefully the mid to high quality hotel will be able to get an increased competitive advantage and the lower end hotels and restaurants may increase their level to obtain a higher ranking.

Read more in this article from La Estrella (translated by Google Translate).

Lawyers complain about delays within Immigration Department

Finally the lawyers have had the opportunity to show to their clients that the delays to grant visas and residence permit to foreigners is caused by the internal procedure of the Immigration Department to send all the applications to the Director for the final signature. Thus, hundreds of visas and residence permits are stuck in the Director's office.

Last week, a group of specialists in Immigration Law presented a formal letter to Clovis Sinisterra, Immigration Department Director, expressing their concern about the unjustified delay in the signing of visas and residence permits pending. Furthermore, they also claimed for the online publication about the approval and denial of applications for residence permits on the website of the institution.

In this regard, a high source of Immigration acknowledged that after an audit carried out last January, it was determined that Legal Counsel had at least 600 cases dealing with the applicants because they had incomplete files.

I totally agree with the position of the National Bar Association (Immigration Counsel), because we are really tired of trying to explain this to clients for whom the procedure will never be clear enough, because it is not the way in which the immigration department works in their countries of origin. I hope this initiative will help to have a more efficient and fast internal procedure.

New changes in Immigration Law

After five months of having entered into force the new migration law, The National Immigration Service amended several articles of Executive Order No. 320 of August 8, 2008 which is the regulation of Decree Law No. 3 of February 2, 2008. Among the most important changes are: it eased the requirements for visas for marines, extended the term of visas for temporary workers; the inclusion of tourism visa and marine visa among the specials visas that can be applied before immigration authorities abroad and reduced the cost of immigration services for domestic workers, among others.

The Executive Decree No. 26 of March 2, 2009 has shown once again that the immigration law is a complex and especially evolutionary law, that despite the latest attempt by the immigration authorities, it requires a deep multidisciplinary study to achieve levels of efficiency and quality to become an effective national security institution, with international vision and respectful of human rights.

What it takes to obtain a panamanian residency?

Certainly, it depends on what you want to do and how long you want to stay in Panama. For example, Investor Visa with a minimum investment of US$150,000.00 in a business with at least 3 Panamanian employees. If you are able to live in Panama by your own means, I strongly recommend you the Personal Income Visa with a term deposit of US$300,000.00 in a local bank for 2 years (minimum) or the ownership of properties, which all together sum US$300,000 or a mix of both options to sum the same amount of money.

Also, the most attractive visas are: Pensioned tourist and Private Income Retiree Visa, with several benefits and tax exonerations.

If you wish to work in Panama, the sponsor company has to prove that you earn monthly more than US$800.00 or US$1,000.00 if you are an executive. For the works visa, you have to obtain your work permit from Ministry of Labor.

Too complicate!!... Get a Panamanian girlfriend! Married with Panamanian Visa grants the work permit and the residency really fast. However, you will have two personal interviews at the Immigration office and one domicile visit.