The Friendly Nations Visa (FNV) in Panama has, to date, been one of the best residency programs in the world.
If you were a citizen of one of the 50 countries on Panama’s Friendly Nations list (all Western countries included), all you had to do to obtain Panamanian permanent residency was to open a corporation there, and deposit as little as $5,000 in a local bank account.
We had never seen anything nearly as generous as this program before, and warned our readers multiple times that the deal would not last forever.
And we were right. In May 2021, the Panamanian government announced that the Friendly Nations Visa program would soon become much more expensive.
Under the new requirements, in order to qualify for the Panamanian Friendly Nations Visa, you will need to either obtain employment with a Panamanian company, or purchase a piece of local real estate worth at least $200,000.
However, the new rules did not take effect immediately. Until August 20, 2021, you could still apply under the old -- much more beneficial -- conditions.
And that's exactly what hundreds of people decided to do, including dozens of our own subscribers.
As a result, the Panamanian immigration department got flooded with hundreds of new applications.
And yesterday, our Panamanian lawyer reached out to us saying that the government has decided to do “something about this problem” and… moved the deadline to August 7th. (See Article 5 of this decree.)
That’s only 16 days from today; You have to come to Panama and personally submit your residency application before then in order to make the new, earlier deadline.
We have instructed our service providers in Panama to contact all of our subscribers who previously expressed interest in applying for the Friendly Nations Visa, and inform them about the new deadline.
If you were planning to apply for the Friendly Nations Visa, you now have only 16 days to complete the process, including making a trip to Panama.
If you are half-way through the process of gathering the documents for your application, we strongly encourage you to contact your lawyers and see how the new deadline may affect your application process.
And you may have to come to Panama sooner than expected to beat the new deadline.
The Friendly Nations Visa (FNV) in Panama has, to date, been one of the best residency programs in the world. If you were a citizen of one of the 50 countries on Panama’s Friendly Nations list (all Western countries included), all you had to do to obtain Panamanian permanent residency was to open a corporation…