From Canada To Panama: Our Expat Story

Rachel and Sacha are happy new residents of Panama City, Panama. They decided to relocate during the pandemic and finally arrived here in October of 2022.

After enduring two long, cold winters under COVID-related curfews in Montreal, Canada, they knew they wanted to head for sunnier climes… ideally before a third pandemic winter could settle in.

It turns out that, despite the hardships and losses, the pandemic also shaped lives in positive ways. Rachel and Sacha’s story is proof of this.

I sat down with them to learn about it firsthand…

Sophia: Where are you from originally?

Rachel: I was born in Germany and grew up in the South of France. Then I spent 19 years in Montreal, which is where I met my beloved Sacha.

Sacha: I was born and raised in Montreal. My dad is Canadian, and my mom is from Rwanda.

Sophia: What inspired you to move overseas?

Rachel: I love Canada and everything that I learned there. The art, the culture… everything. But I spent 19 winters there. At some point, we decided we wanted to have more sun.

Sacha: Exactly. Away from the Canadian cold and away from the seasonal depression, too.

Rachel: During the two years of the pandemic, we used our time to research our options and found so many online resources and YouTube videos.

That’s where we discovered Lief and Kathleen, and I subscribed to the newsletter.

We watched a lot of video testimonials from people who had moved overseas, and this inspired us.

Hopefully, hearing our story motivates other people as well.

Sophia: It sounds like the pandemic played quite a role in your story…

Rachel: Yes, I was working in communications and translation as well as business development, but we both lost our jobs around the same time during COVID.

Sacha: In my case, I’ve had a successful DJ career for the past 25 years. And then COVID came, which wasn’t in my career plan.

Rachel and I actually met in the first weeks of the pandemic, so it was interesting to know that something positive could come out of such a hectic time.

Sophia: How did you end up in Panama, of all places?

Rachel: We came across a YouTube video that featured a relocation specialist as well as immigration attorneys from Panama and Costa Rica.

We decided to contact both attorneys and discussed our options with them via WhatsApp, including a long list of questions. We compared both countries to see which world fit us better, and we chose Panama.

Panama seemed like the better option because it has almost the same natural appeal as Costa Rica, but it also has a dynamic capital city.

We wanted to have a city lifestyle and be sure to have good internet access. We also liked that there’s an international airport with easy access to many places.

And we like that Panama City is international. It’s a cultural mix.

Panama’s tax and investment incentives were part of the equation as well.

Sacha: Panama was the best mix between a tropical environment and a Westernized environment. We didn’t realize at the time that it was a former U.S. colony.

We were happy with the fact that it offers almost the same way of life as the United States and Canada, but it’s a tropical country, so it’s the best of both worlds.

Sophia: I totally agree with you about the Panama versus Costa Rica debate… Costa Rica is more famous for tourism, but Panama has much of the same appeal, plus it offers more from a lifestyle point of view with stronger infrastructure and economic stability.

Rachel: I believe we’re going to get more and more tourism here because, right now, it’s like a hidden gem.

When you say “Panama,” many people still think, “Corruption, drugs, Panama Papers, etc.” That’s the vision that they have of Panama. But we think this is going to change, and it will become more popular.

Sophia: How did you find the process of getting residency in Panama?

Rachel: The relocation specialist, a Belgian lady, put us in contact with our immigration lawyer, which made us feel more secure in Panama. She helped us open a bank account and do everything else.

It’s amazing to have people like that available who have already done all the things that you need to do to set up life in a place.

Our first idea was to get a digital nomad visa, which would’ve let us stay in Panama for nine months. We had never been to Panama at that point. Sacha had only been to the airport in Panama City.

When we arrived here, we fell in love with it and said, “We’ll have to do all that paperwork for the digital nomad visa, and it’s only going to last us nine months.”

We spoke with other expats who advised us to create a company here and seek permanent residency. So, with the help of our lawyer, we created our consulting company.

We now have temporary residency for two years, and in two years, we’ll be permanent residents.

Sophia: So, was it a smooth transition to your new life here?

Rachel: We dedicated a lot of effort, time, energy, and resources to making our move happen. There were so many meetings with banks, attorneys, notaries, the consulate, and more.

We had a mental deadline to leave Canada, but we didn’t have all the papers required yet… We booked the plane tickets and our Airbnb in Panama City anyway.

I’m very spiritual, so I was visualizing our move as if it had already happened. That was very important to us—taking all the actions required but also having a clear vision.

Giving yourself a deadline helps because it forces you to take action. Otherwise, you can easily put things off because there’s never a perfect time to make this kind of change.

Sacha: We improvised some aspects of our move, and we don’t suggest doing it this way. It’s better to be well prepared and gradually make the transition to life in a new country…

But for us, it was a matter of time. We were like, “No, we need to leave the country before the next winter.”

During the pandemic, Quebec was the only place in North America with a curfew. For two years in a row, we endured winter in Quebec with a curfew… We said to ourselves, “We don’t want to stay for a third potential curfew.”

That motivated us to go spend winter somewhere else.

We were fortunate because a lot of people helped us. When we told them we had a deadline, they made exceptions for us because, normally, those papers take weeks to process.

It all came together kind of magically, and we were very fortunate.

Sophia: Rachel, I saw that you attended this year’s Global Property Summit. What did you think of it?

Rachel: We had just gotten set up in Panama City with our Airbnb for six weeks. We found a beautiful apartment in San Francisco—an amazing location right next to Parque Omar, which is like Central Park here in Panama City.

As we were getting our bank accounts and everything else set up here, I continued to receive Live And Invest Overseas’ newsletters. At some point, I noticed that there was an event here in Panama City.

It was perfect timing to meet the team and network with other expats. I was really happy about the experience, which was three intense days covering a lot of information.

The best part was the networking aspect and being offered all these investment opportunities that you could choose from, depending on your priorities and what suits you best. I connected with a group of fellow attendees, and we have continued chatting and sharing information.

For me, it has been really beneficial. From this service I found on the internet to actually making the move and being in the room with real people… It was a great investment.

Sophia: Most, importantly, do you have any advice for other people who might be thinking about moving to Panama or anywhere overseas?

Rachel: If you want to develop something, it takes contacts to make it happen. You need to put yourself out there and make connections. Alone, we can’t achieve as much.

I thank Kathleen and Lief for organizing this opportunity to meet other expats and share information with people who want to live another life. I’m very grateful for that.

Moving overseas is not like going for a massage. It’s a lot of administrative work. It’s like you’re at the base of a mountain and looking up, thinking, “How am I ever going to reach the top?”

My advice to other expats is to take things step by step.

Sacha: We were lucky to have a common project as a couple. With some of my friends who’ve had similar ideas, it’s been the goal of just one of the two people. Unfortunately for most of them, there was usually a clash after two or three years.

Regarding our move to Panama, we knew we needed to always be in action, no matter what obstacle was in front of us, or else we’d just be dreaming about Panama, and it would stay a dream. We’d be watching everyone else do it except us.

Millions of people have moved to other countries successfully before us, so why should we be the exception? Working through obstacles towards your goal is always better than doing nothing.

Another source of motivation for us was considering the consequences of inaction. When you really understand that concept, anything is possible.

Sincerely,

Sophia Titley

Editor, Overseas Living Letter