Panama Tourist Visa Reduced to 90 Days.
One of The Best Features of Living in Panama as a Perpetual Traveler has Officially Been Changed.
Yesterday the government of Panama announced that tourists could only stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days. Prior to this many citizens from other countries could stay for 180 day or six months before being required to, "Run for the Border".
Article on La Estrella
When I originally moved to Panama in 2011 I would do this every six months. I would go to Costa Rica or occasionally the USA to renew my tourist Visa. The whole process was a big headache. The border guards are a real pain in the butt on both sides of the Panama and Costa Rica border.
I even had to go in the back room one time and pad a palm because the guard told me the rules changed and a bus ticket leaving no longer qualified for entering the country. They needed an official plane ticket with a date of departure. Little did they know that people would then just buy a plane ticket a few days before and cancel it the day they returned to Panama.
I truly love the chaos of this country. One hand does not know what the other is doing. The problem is that the stress of dealing with it makes one desire a more stable existence. That is why a year after Anabell and I got married I finally decided to get my permanent residency. Since then life has been pretty easy.
What Does This Mean for People Who Want to Live Here as a Perpetual Traveler.
1. Less confusion, because even though you could stay for six months before, your drivers license was only legal for 90 days.
2. You will need more money because the cost of making the trips is not cheap. Currently flying to Colombia round trip is only a few hundred dollars but you still need accommodations.
3. You are supposed to leave for a minimum of 72 hours, but no one knows the real answer. The border guards don't pay attention to the time stamps most of the time. Come back earlier at your own risk.
4. This rule only applied to a handful of countries like the USA, Canada and European countries. The rest were only allowed 90 day Visas all along.
They are really strict about the 72 hours out of the country now. They explained to me in Spanish that I will have to stay out for 3 days and I will not be let back in. Other border hoppers from Nicaragua confirmed that they were in the same boat. There are some old gringos that claim to to their border hops within a few hours but they may either be lying or bribing someone.
There are currently talks about increasing the time out of the country to more than 72 hours. I fear that they will do what Colombia does and make it 6 months in, 6 months out.
There are a lot of retirees in the country that do not make the minimum amount of money to qualify for the pensionado visa so they are screwed. They will probably just leave the country soon.
It has been a few years since I made my last border run. I imagine you are right, people will leave en masse. The cost is just too high.
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Thank you!
Do you know how seriously they treat the 90 days? If you leave late, then come back, will they say no, or ask for a bribe, or just ignore it? In Mexico it seems like they really don't care if you overstay by months and months, as long as you pay the fine.
You just pay a fine. I had to do that once as well. I was one day over, 100% my oversight and I had to pay a little over $100. The biggest headache was the time in the border immigration office thinking I was in trouble.
It must be universal for border agents to want people to think they're "in trouble". Ahh, the blessings of bureaucracy... We got "detained" on our way back into the US from Mexico once, with the agents showing just what jackasses they can be. My wife was freaked, but (knowing how I feel about bureaucrats) utterly astonished that I took it all in stride. I reminded her that they're trained to keep everyone on their heels and treat them as if they were guilty. It's all a power trip of slaves of the state. I just waited for him to play his stupid game, find there was no reason to hold us and let us on our way.
It seems they are the same everywhere. Ana gets freaked out by government employees, I pay them no mind.
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These things are always on my mind the last few months as I learn things related to this topic.
Good post by you. Sorry I did not catch it earlier.
I know we have talked about this but if I had not had that accident, I was literally either gonna list my house or rent it all out -- pack my stuff back into storage and I have less than ever intentionally over the years and I might have been down there having tacos or a pizza with you months ago.
Most people really do not have any clue what I am doing or how close I was when that happened.
I was very close....
.... to at least committing to life "on the road" for 6 months in 2 or 3 places trying them out.