POSTERN

Panama

Visa de Pensionado (Ley 6). Immediate permanent residence for anyone with a guaranteed lifetime pension, paired with Panama's famous retiree discounts.

Free · The law behind every answer · Checked Sep 27, 2026

Visa de Pensionado (Ley 6)

Immediate permanent residence, no temporary phase or annual renewal, plus Law 6 discounts: 25–50% off transit, entertainment, restaurants and hotels, a one-time import-duty exemption up to $10,000, and a vehicle every 2 years.

Who qualifies

You keep your U.S. citizenship.

1

Does it fit your family?

3 questions, from the program’s own rules.

Steady monthly income, from any source?

Not legal advice.

2

What it takes.

Income
Steady income each month, rising with each person who moves.
Just you$1,000
2 people$1,250
4 people$1,750
Time
6–10 weeks with Panama's Servicio Nacional de Migración.
Cost
About $1,500–3,000 total in government and legal fees.
The hard part
Getting the pension certified as lifetime and guaranteed by an apostilled letter from the paying institution; self-directed withdrawals generally do not qualify.

Dollar figures are converted from the local currency at the rate the program’s research used; the official figure is in the local currency.

3

Citizens by 2033.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

  1. 2027
    First residence permit

    10 years, renewable for 10 years at a time.

  2. 2032
    Apply for citizenship

    With a language test and a civics test.

  3. 2033
    Citizenship
Language
Spanish, tested by the Electoral Tribunal.
Civics
An Electoral Tribunal exam on Panama's history, geography and political and administrative organisation.
Time away
Five consecutive years counted from the resolution granting permanent residence. Migration checks your entries and exits to confirm the residence was continuous.
Two passports
It depends on the rules at the time and on your home country.
  • Permanent from the start and granted indefinitely, so the five-year citizenship clock runs from the grant.
  • Renunciation: the Constitution and the application form require an express, irrevocable renunciation of your old nationality, and at the oath you renounce all ties to it. Panama does not require proof that the home country accepted this, so whether you keep your old passport depends on your home country.
  • Spaniards and Latin Americans by birth can instead meet whatever their own country asks of Panamanians (reciprocity, Constitution art. 10(3)). The years vary by country and are not listed here.
  • The widely quoted rule of 180 days a year in Panama during the five years comes from secondary sources; I did not find it in Decree-Law 3.
  • No official decision time found.
  • Pensionado and qualified-investor residence are permanent from the start according to the migration service's and MICI's requirement sheets, seen in search results but not opened today.
  • How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.
  • Whether you can keep your current citizenship depends on the rules at the time and your home country.
The law behind these dates
4

Living there.

Time you must spend there
None to keep permanent residence, though at least one visit every 2 years is prudent to avoid questions about abandonment.
Tax
Panama taxes only Panama-source income; the foreign pension used to qualify is not taxed.

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

5

Start today.

  1. Get an apostilled certification letter from your pension-paying institution confirming a lifetime, guaranteed monthly payment before filing.Open ndm.com.pa ↗
  2. Round up the papers.
    • Proof of steady income: at least $1,000 a month
    • Request your FBI Identity History Summary
    • Health cover for the move
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Or let us run it.

$900for your first year as a founding member. Then $399 a year, automatically.Standard first year: $1,200. Everyone renews at $399.One membership, the whole family. Accounts and activation included.

17 steps, from the first paper to the passport. You do 4 of them: send what we ask for, sign, and show up. We run the rest, and keep every permit renewed on time. Accounts and activation are included, whether you move now or keep the plan ready. Accounts depend on provider availability. Government, record and approved third-party charges are extra.

Run it for my family →
7
ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

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