Friendly Nations Visa (Panama): Requirements
Panama residence route
Friendly Nations Visa
Americans without a lifetime pension who have capital to place, or a genuine Panamanian job offer.
- Income threshold
- No income test
- Minimum age
- None
- Validity
- Two years of provisional residency, after which you apply for permanent residency.
- Permanent residence
- Two years
- Processing
- 4 to 8 months for provisional status
The legal basis
Executive Decree 343 of 2012 as substantially amended by Executive Decree 197 of 2021.
The financial test in detail
No income test. Instead you must show an economic or professional tie to Panama: real estate in your own name worth at least 200,000 dollars, a fixed-term deposit of at least 200,000 dollars in a Panamanian bank for at least three years, or an employment contract with a Panamanian employer including work permit approval.
What the status gives you
- Renewal
- Convert to permanent residency at the end of the two-year provisional period.
- Work rights
- Only through the employment route, which includes a work permit. The investment routes do not carry work authorisation.
- How much time you must spend there
- Minimal, but you must enter to maintain the status and to complete the conversion to permanent residency.
- Citizenship
- Five years of permanent residency.
- Government fees
- Visa: 250 USD. Residence permit: 800 USD.
Your document checklist for this route
9 documents in total, of which 4 need authentication: 1 through the U.S. Department of State and 3 through a Secretary of State. All authenticated documents also need certified translation into Spanish.
- U.S. passport Identity and the physical book the visa is placed in. Lead time: Routine renewal takes weeks; check current published times
- Passport-format photographs Every application. Specifications differ by country and are enforced strictly. Lead time: Same day
- National long-stay visa application form The core filing. Almost always country-specific and often only valid if printed from the consulate portal. Lead time: Same day
- FBI Identity History Summary (background check) U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications (federal) Apostille Almost every retirement and long-stay residence visa requires a national-level police clearance. For Americans that means the FBI Identity History Summary, not a local police letter, because consulates want a federal record covering all 50 states. Lead time: 1 to 10 days to obtain, then federal authentication
- Certified birth certificate Secretary of State for the issuing state Apostille Proves identity, nationality and, where relevant, family relationships for dependants. Lead time: 3 to 20 days depending on state
- Certified marriage certificate Secretary of State for the issuing state Apostille Required whenever a spouse is included as a dependant, and to prove joint income or joint savings. Lead time: 3 to 20 days
- Bank and brokerage statements Proof of savings or liquid assets, used either instead of income or alongside it. Lead time: 1 to 10 days
- Power of attorney for a local representative Secretary of State for the issuing state Apostille Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil and others require a local attorney to file on your behalf. Lead time: 1 to 5 days
- Certified translation of the authenticated set Non-English-speaking destinations require the document and its apostille translated by a translator they recognise. Lead time: 2 to 7 days
Why applications on this route fail
- This route used to require almost nothing and is frequently described online using the pre-2021 rules. Those descriptions are wrong. The 200,000 dollar economic tie is real.
- The fixed deposit must be genuinely locked for three years and cannot be pledged as collateral.
Apply here
- Servicio Nacional de Migración Current Friendly Nations requirements.
- 1 Obtain the record Order certified copies from the issuing authority. Do not use photocopies, scans or hospital souvenir certificates.
- 2 Notarise if required Letters and affidavits need a notary acknowledgement before any state can authenticate them. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk (some states) A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Federal documents go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or legalise Hague Convention destination: an apostille finishes the chain. Non-Hague destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate for legalisation. For Panama the apostille ends the chain.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille. Translating first means paying twice.
- 7 File with the consulate Book the appointment at the consulate with jurisdiction over your state of residence and bring originals plus copies.
The expensive mistake: translating before the document is authenticated. The apostille or legalisation certificate is itself part of what the receiving government reads, so it has to be inside the translation. Do it the other way round and you pay for the same translation twice.
Friendly Nations Visa: common questions
How much income do I need for the Friendly Nations Visa?
There is no published income test on this route. No income test. Instead you must show an economic or professional tie to Panama: real estate in your own name worth at least 200,000 dollars, a fixed-term deposit of at least 200,000 dollars in a Panamanian bank for at least three years, or an employment contract with a Panamanian employer including work permit approval.
Can I work on this visa?
Only through the employment route, which includes a work permit. The investment routes do not carry work authorisation. This is the field applicants most often misread, and in several countries remote work for a U.S. employer counts as work performed locally.
What documents need an apostille?
For this route we count 4 documents needing authentication: 1 federal, through the U.S. Department of State, and 3 state-issued, through the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Panama is a Hague Convention country, so an apostille completes the chain.
How long does it take?
4 to 8 months for provisional status Among the faster processes in the Americas, and a temporary card arrives within weeks of filing.
How much time must I spend in the country?
Minimal, but you must enter to maintain the status and to complete the conversion to permanent residency.
Does it lead to permanent residence?
Permanent residence: Two years. Citizenship: Five years of permanent residency..
Verified Sep 7, 2026
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This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Immigration rules, income thresholds, fees and processing times change frequently and often without notice, and consulates apply them differently. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific consulate that has jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence before you act. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
