Panama
Qualified Investor Visa
The fast one. Permanent residency granted directly with no temporary stage, and processing commonly quoted at 30 to 90 days. Between July 2025 and June 2026 the program brought in USD 113.6 million, and nearly 87 percent of successful applicants used property as the qualifying asset.
Qualified Investor Visa
USD 300,000Real estate route, held five years
The October 2026 deadline, examined
A large part of the advisory market states that the USD 300,000 real estate minimum expires on 15 October 2026 and reverts to USD 500,000. We went looking for the clause. The governing text is Decreto Ejecutivo 193 of 15 October 2024, published in Gaceta Oficial 30140-B, which amends the 2020 decree, sets the real estate minimum at 300,000 and takes effect on promulgation. Firms that quote the operative articles say it contains no sunset. The temporary character belonged to Decreto 109 of 2022, which 193 replaced. As of mid September 2026 no successor decree raising the floor had been gazetted.
What that means for you
Treat the deadline as an unverified marketing claim until a new Gaceta number exists. It is also a useful filter: an adviser who cannot tell you which decree they are reading is not reading one.
Alternative routes
USD 500,000 in securities through a licensed Panamanian brokerage, or a USD 750,000 five year fixed term bank deposit. Each held five years, and selling early without prior approval and a replacement investment can cost you the residency.
Against Colombia
Panama costs about 50 percent more and gives permanent residency immediately with almost no stay requirement. Colombia costs less and gives a three year temporary permit with a hard 180 day absence rule. For a passive Plan B you rarely visit, Panama is the cleaner buy. For somewhere you intend to live, with lower carrying costs and a deeper rental market, the calculus flips.
The facts, in one place
| Status | Open, disputed |
| Threshold | USD 300,000, Real estate route, held five years |
| What it grants | Permanent residency from day one |
| Stay requirement | One entry every two years |
| Citizenship | Commonly cited at 5 years |
| Governing instrument | Decreto Ejecutivo 722 of 15 October 2020, amended by DE 193 of 15 October 2024, Gaceta 30140-B Primary source |
| Last verified | 17 September 2026 |
Other programs:
Compare this against the two programs closest to it
Tell us the budget, the goal and the timeline. If Colombia fits, we introduce you to an immigration lawyer and a broker who has closed for foreign buyers before. If it does not fit, we say so and point you at the program that does.