Are People Fed Up with Panama?

Are people who once immigrated to Panama with high hopes now leaving? This article by Matt, of the Panama Report, investigates this issue further. He asks if "Panama Pioneers" are leaving for Greener Pastures? Are people really fed up with Panama? Is retirement in Panama no longer the dream it once was?

On Friday, September 25th, the same day that Panama’s newly elected President Ricardo Martinelli threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Yankees-Red Sox thriller in the Bronx, the fifth citizen of Panama died from dengue fever, a tropical hemorrhagic disease spread by infected mosquitoes in the developing world. Also on that day, the seizure of a 200-kilo cocaine raid was announced in one of Panama’s most famous beach regions, a gang shootout in the capital’s UNESCO historic district left an accidental tourist in the ICU, and a straying cow mauled in a highway co llision was eagerly dissected by locals desperate for food. The newsreel might come off as startling were it not for the fact that none of these incidents are particularly unusual to Panama nowadays save the ceremonial first pitch.

Before Yankee’s Stadium, a more serious President Martinelli concluded his speech at the United Nations Headquarters declaring to world leaders that Panama is officially open for business. Martinelli’s words of assurance read like a laundry list of success-spawning agents: “the Dubai of the Americas,” he forecasted. “Friendly and flexible immigration and labor laws…a spirit of service and open doors…the ideal place to invest, establish companies and to live.”

To foreigners who know Panama only by its Canal, the speech came off as decisively utopian. But to those on the inside those who have experienced the country first hand for several years, many of the President’s words fell on frustrated ears. Beyond its growing pains are the less publicized obstacles of life in Panama as a foreigner: ironically many of the very aspects the President has touted now for some time.

Jim Forrester is a middle-aged Florida retiree who, after several investments in Costa Rica, chose the interior hills of Panama for their great climate and immaculate views. The region’s renowned fishing didn’t hurt either for Forrester who set the world record for striped marlin at 226.5 pounds in Costa Rica. “I felt safe coming here,” Forrester said. “It was just a great alternative to retirement in the United States.”

One might be tempted to call Forrester the model foreign investor were he not, after three successive years, prepared to leave Panama for good. “Banking and immigration,” he says, “are the two biggest factors. The amount of hoops you need to jump through can be painful. We’re still waiting on our investor visa.


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Services of the US Consulate for US Citizens in Panama

The following is an article posted on the Panama News site on services that the US Consulate will do and not do for American citizens living in Panama. It is best to be informed before you take the leap to Panama, which can be very rewarding.

"What the Moving to Panama is not, after all, the same as moving to Kansas

So, if you are a US citizen and you run into some legal trouble in Panama, will the American Embassy go to bat for you? When Americans are treated unfairly or are subject to discrimination, Kellee Farmer of the US Consulate's American Citizens Services Unit explained, "it's a concern in the US-Panamanian relationship," but "we won't get involved in your individual dispute," be it civil or criminal.

If you are arrested you have a right to see a consular officer, and, except maybe if you are being held in some remote boondocks lock-up, Panamanian authorities are pretty good about allowing someone from the consulate to visit within 48 hours. She or he will help you contact your family or someone else close to you, or if you ask will refrain from informing family members or anyone else. They can provide a list of Panamanian lawyers who haven't been busted for ethical violations. They can periodically bring you vitamin pills and reading material. But they can't get you out of jail, act as your lawyer or legal interpreter, or mediate the community dispute that may have led to your incarceration.

So are you going to buy Hectare Negro, that farm where you want to spend the rest of your days? You do that at your own risk, without the assistance of the US government. "Talk to an attorney before you buy," Farmer urged.

More commonly, the Citizens Services Unit notarizes documents ($30 per document, an extra $20 for each extra signature on a single document), with notary services valid for either Panama, the USA or both.

There are a lot of US documents that the consulate will authenticate, and which the Panamanian government generally accepts but is not obligated to do so. For a $30 notary charge, they will "authenticate" but not "validate" a US driver's license. If you are applying for Panamanian residency under a pensionado status, the consulate can't certify the retirement benefits you have coming but they can notarize an affidavit about these, which Migracion usually accepts.

Birth, death and marriage records from the USA are handled through the states rather than the consulate. Criminal records checks from the United States are handled through state or local authorities there, or from the FBI, but not through the embassy or consulate."

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