The category table
Approved permits by category, 2025 full-year against the January to July 2026 window:[1][2]
| Category | 2025 approved | Jan-Jul 2026 approved | Share of 2025 | Share of 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PPSH (regularization) | 5,306 | 8,564 | 16.0% | 38.8% |
| Dependientes | 5,833 | 2,618 | 17.5% | 11.9% |
| Regularizado permanente | 4,695 | 2,322 | 14.1% | 10.5% |
| Multinacionales | 3,053 | 2,010 | 9.2% | 9.1% |
| Países Amigos | 2,725 | 1,458 | 8.2% | 6.6% |
| Jubilados o pensionados | 1,929 | 1,239 | 5.8% | 5.6% |
| Casados | 1,754 | 789 | 5.3% | 3.6% |
| Educación | 1,325 | 619 | 4.0% | 2.8% |
| Hijo panameño | 992 | 564 | 3.0% | 2.6% |
| Convenio Panamá-Italia | 464 | 243 | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| Inversionista calificado | 327 | 219 | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Contrato bajo el 10% | 515 | 197 | 1.5% | 0.9% |
Read the share columns, not the raw deltas. 2026 covers seven months against 2025’s twelve. Raw counts sit on different bases. A share of approvals is the honest comparison. It uses the same numerator type, each against its own year’s total.[1][2]
Three more 2026 rows sit under 1% each. Empleados Panamá-Pacífico approved 165. Técnico 15% approved 164. Profesional approved 152. The label dependientes is the SNM’s row for family dependents.[2]
The two reports also differ in grain. The 2026 category table carries a column for every month. That is how this page can quote July figures for a single category. The 2025 table has no months at all, only the year. No month-level 2025 comparison exists.[1][2]
The PPSH methodology note
PPSH more than doubled its share, from 16.0% to 38.8%. That is not a surge in relocation demand. It does not measure this site’s audience.
PPSH is an administrative regularization program for people already in Panama under humanitarian protection. Nobody applies for it from abroad. Its 2025 baseline is also understated as a comparison. The 2025 report carries a separate row, “permiso de protección humanitaria,” with 1,260 files. That label does not appear in 2026. Part of the PPSH jump may be rows rejoining under one name. The SNM reports do not reconcile the two labels. This page does not either.[1][2]
For someone weighing Friendly Nations, pensionado, or an investor route, the PPSH line is noise in the national total. Strip it out mentally. The biggest relocation category is dependientes at 2,618. Multinationals follow at 2,010. Friendly Nations holds 1,458. Pensionado holds 1,239.
Why July spiked
July 2026 approved 6,073 permits against a monthly norm that ran between 2,512 and 2,912. The report’s own note explains the surge. In translation, the July variations correspond to administrative behavior in the approval process. More files were registered as favorable resolutions at once. The note names PPSH, the six-year extension cards, retiree permits, and dependent permits as the drivers.[2]
The category table shows the same spike from below. PPSH approved 2,647 in July alone. Dependientes approved 818. Pensionado permits approved 366. Married-to-citizen permits approved 294. Education permits approved 285.[2]
The relocation categories
Friendly Nations, Países Amigos, approved 1,458 permits in the window. It approved 2,725 across 2025. On a per-month base that is a modest decline, from about 227 a month to 208. Its share of approvals eased from 8.2% to 6.6%.[1][2]
Pensionado holds steadiest of all the relocation categories. Its share ran 5.8% of 2025 approvals and 5.6% of 2026 approvals. The monthly pace actually rose, from about 161 a month in 2025 to 177 in 2026. Married-to-citizen cases fell harder, from 5.3% to 3.6%.[1][2]
Investor permits, inversionista calificado, stay near 1% of approvals in both years. The count ran 327 across 2025, about 27 a month. It ran 219 in seven months of 2026, about 31 a month. The share held while the pace edged up, the same pattern as pensionado.[1][2]
The multinational category runs almost flat. It approved 3,053 in 2025 and 2,010 in seven months of 2026, shares 9.2% against 9.1%. Its dedicated pathway page is planned but not yet published on this site.[1][2]
The by-nationality table shows which countries feed these categories. The tipo page shows how the permits split between temporary and permanent.
Last reviewed: