Panama digital nomad visa (remote worker short stay)

Three conditions apply. You must have a contract as an operative of a foreign transnational company, or be self-employed, working by telework; your duties must take effect abroad; and you must receive income from a foreign source of at least B/.36,000 a year or its equivalent in another currency. The balboa is the Panamanian currency.

Once granted, the visa entitles you to work remotely inside Panama with no further procedure and no permit from any other state body, whether to work or to reside. You also sign a sworn declaration that you will not accept job or service offers in Panama from nationals, residents, tourists or companies to do business in the country.

File a notarised power of attorney and application naming your parents and their nationality, three photos, a certified copy of the passport, a criminal record certificate, a health certificate, the sworn personal history form and the application form, which includes your commitment to pay for return or repatriation if needed. Add health insurance that covers you in Panama for the whole stay.

Employees also provide proof that the foreign company exists where it is registered and a letter on company letterhead signed by its legal representative giving your details, position and duties, a monthly income of at least B/.3,000 from a foreign source and how often it is paid, the remote work arrangement and the company's commitment to cover repatriation. Documents issued abroad must meet the legalisation rules of article 247 of the regulation.

Self-employed applicants replace the company documents with a certificate of their own business registered abroad and a sworn notarial declaration describing each client relationship: names and details of the clients, the services provided, the amount earned, the origin of the funds and how often payments arrive.

Every applicant proves that the income comes from abroad with either a bank certificate showing foreign income linked to the declared work, or statements from the foreign bank, or from a local bank stamped by the issuing bank, showing the transfers and their link to that work.

The application costs B/.250 paid to the SNM and the corresponding card B/.50. To extend for a second nine-month period, file the same requirements again, including the bank evidence of foreign income. Remote workers providing non-profit social services under agreements with the government or recognised NGOs, and participants in student exchanges, can extend once for the same term without paying the migration service charges.