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"Also, I have purchased the publication from your recent
Panama conference and am considering a non-beach location
in that country, but I have heard comments about the extreme weather
in the highlands and restrictive immigration."
-- M.W.,
United States
I replied to the first part of your query
yesterday, dear reader, but neglected to address your remark about
"restrictive immigration" in Panama.
Au contraire.
Panama is one of the most foreign resident-friendly jurisdictions in
the world right now, offering five main options for establishing
foreign residency and several more obscure ones. You could acquire
highly beneficial pensionado visa status by showing
pensioner income of at least US$1,000 a month. Other options for
establishing full-time foreign residency include the
Reforestation Visa (which comes with the upside of a
hard-asset investment and is the method Lief and I used to acquire
our Panama residency); the Person of Means Visa, the
Investor Visa, and the Private Income Retiree Visa. Each
option comes with special benefits and each carries its own
financial requirements.
Another seriously user-friendly place
to establish residency as a foreigner right now is Belize, where you
can qualify to become a
QRP resident as young as 45 and by showing a minimum
income of US$2,000 a month. No lump sum investment is required.
***
"How easy is it, really, to take advantage of the
pensionado visa discounts in Panama?
I've read the list of all the discounts you're
supposed to get as a retiree in this country, but do
you really get them? Do stores and restaurants offer
them without a big hassle?"
-- Richard H.,
United States
Friends who've acquired
pensionado visa status in Panama assure us that,
yes, the discounts are real and that, no, it's not a
big hassle to have your pensioner status recognized.
One reader-friend we had lunch with recently told
us, "The only thing I haven't been able to get a
discount on so far are my gin and tonics at the bar
down the street from my apartment. And I'm working
on that."
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