Permanent Residency under Executive Decree 249 of 2019 (repealed).

This decree has been repealed. Article 13 of Executive Decree 235 of 15 September 2021 (Official Gazette 29381-A of 22 September 2021) repealed Executive Decree 249 of 10 June 2019, along with eight other decrees and two resolutions, and definitively closed the extraordinary and general immigration regularization processes. The fees and deadlines on this page no longer apply.

Where to go now: Crisol de Razas, the six-year extension and permanent residency under Executive Decree 235 of 2021. That is the route still open to anyone who already holds a provisional permit, with its requirements updated to 2026, the three grounds on which permanent residency can be sought, and what Resolution 7096 of 2022 adds that the decree does not say.

In short: Article 2 of Executive Decree 235 grants a six-year extension to holders of a two-year provisional permit; Article 3 allows a permanent residency application from anyone who has accumulated a minimum of eight years of provisional permits; and Article 1 keeps that route open for anyone who obtained their permit through Panamá Crisol de Razas or the General Immigration Regularization, whether for six or ten years. The application must be filed through a Panamanian attorney.

The text below describes the procedure under Executive Decree 249 while it was in force, and is preserved for its historical value.

The government of the Republic of Panama published the Decreto Ejecutivo 249 de 2019 (Executive Decree 249 of 2019). This Executive Decree sets out the procedure for obtaining permanent residency for foreigners who underwent the Extraordinary Immigration Regularization Process and the General Immigration Regularization Process.

Once the applicable terms of 10 and 6 years have elapsed, the foreigner may begin the process to obtain permanent residency by submitting certain documents, detailed below, to the Servicio Nacional de Migración (SNM, the National Immigration Service).

The fees payable for each permit are as follows:

• With a visa waiver agreement — US$512.00
• Without a visa waiver agreement — US$1,017.00
• Restricted nationalities — US$2,097.00
• Venezuelan nationality — US$512.00 ¹

Payment only proceeds once the Servicio Nacional de Migración (National Immigration Service) gives its approval to move forward.