Panama’s government announced the launch of a new program called “Short-Stay Visa as a Remote Worker” (Teleworking), the objective of which is to stimulate economic reactivation by attracting “extended stay” tourists and digital nomads who can telework from Panama.
With this program, they hope to boost the economy by stimulating tourism, restaurants, shopping, and consumption of services in general, resulting in a greater reactivation of jobs for Panamanians.
The decree, issued last Thursday, May 20th, 2021, wants to attract the new segment; that is, new forms of work that have been promoted worldwide. Among them, remote work is practiced by many companies so that their collaborators have had to adapt to working from home or, well, from anywhere in the world. If you have to work from your home, you can now decide to do it from Panama, and in an extended legal way.
The program is valid only for tourists whose work functions or services take effect abroad, and is provided to companies located abroad. It can also apply to independent workers who provide services abroad, and whose source of income is from abroad. In other words, people who work locally in Panama or who generate income by providing services to Panamanian companies will not be able to apply to this program.
How to apply
To apply for this program, tourists must meet some requirements. Among them, prove income from a foreign source of more than US$ 3,000.00 per month (or US$ 4,000.00 per month per family), have health insurance, fill out the application form, present a letter from the foreign company to which he/she works or a contract with the company to which it provides professional services abroad, an affidavit of non-acceptance of a job offer in Panamanian territory, among others.
In this regard, he National Government of Panama will enable an online platform in order to efficiently and expeditiously process applications for this program. Hopefully, it allows a stay of up to 18 months, with an initial period of 9 months that can be extended for a further 9-month period.
