Decreto 722 de 2020, Explained

What the decree is

Decreto 722 de 15 de octubre de 2020 created the residency subcategory Panama now sells hardest. Its full name is Decreto Ejecutivo No. 722 de 15 de octubre de 2020, published in Gaceta Oficial 29136 on October 16, 2020.^[1] The subcategory sits inside permanent residency for economic reasons, as the Inversionista Calificado.^[1] Applicants and firms usually call the result the Qualified Investor Visa. The decree granted permanent residency directly, with no provisional stage.^[1][4]

Two later decrees changed parts of it. Decree 109 of October 13, 2022 modified the route article and the transitory clause. Decree 193 of October 15, 2024 reset the real-estate minimum and added a co-ownership article.^[1][2][3] MICI lists all three under the program’s live normativa.^[4] One wrong label circulates too: a “722 of 2023”. No 2023 decree exists in this chain.^[1][2]

What it set in 2020

The 2020 text ran to ten articles and a transitory clause. The core numbers:

The transitory clause is the seed of everything that followed. It read, in part, that during the first 24 months the real-estate minimum would sit at the reduced amount.^[1] The window ran from October 15, 2020 toward October 15, 2022. Everything else in the decree was written as standing law, with no expiry.

The funds rule sat in Article 2. The money had to come from abroad, and Article 4 named three proof forms: a legalized bank letter, an authenticated statement showing the transfer, or a notarized letter from the receiver.^[1][2] Those rules survive in force today.

Decree 109: the 2022 stretch

Decree 109 of October 13, 2022 made one substantive move. It extended the USD 300,000 real-estate window from 24 to 48 months, pushing the expiry to October 15, 2024.^[1][3] It touched the route article and the transitory clause only, and restated the USD 500,000 standard for everything outside the window.^[2][3] No other article moved.

Why extend? The register behind this page records the fact of the extension, not the motive, and this page will not invent one. What the text shows is a two-step ladder: a reduced door held open by Decree 109,^[3] then a reset on October 15, 2024. That date became the operative one for the whole chain.

Decree 193: the 2024 reset

October 15, 2024 arrived, and Decree 193 arrived with it, published the same day in Gaceta 30140-B.^[2] The decree did three things. It rewrote Article 2 and Article 3. It rewrote the transitory Article 10. And it added Article 3A.^[1][2]

The threshold change is the famous part. Article 3.1 now covers the foreigner who “invierta la suma mínima desde trescientos mil balboas (B/. 300,000.00)”, as a standing floor. Article 5 of the decree lists its own scope: it modifies articles 2, 3, and 10, and adds 3A. No sunset clause appears anywhere in the text.^[2]

The transitory rewrite is the part the myth forgets. Decree 193’s Article 4 deleted the reduced-amount language from the transitory article. After October 15, 2024, there is no transitory article left to expire. The USD 300,000 figure lives in the main text now.^[1][2]

Two additions came alongside. Article 3A lets spouses and dependents hold the property as co-owners, with MICI certification. A new pre-sale route allows 100 percent prepayment to a developer of unbuilt property when a bank guarantee covers the whole sum, renews yearly, and is presented to MICI before each annual check. Rights cannot be assigned without written MICI notice.^[2]

What still stands from 2020

Most of the decree never moved. Decree 109 touched articles 3 and 10. Decree 193 touched articles 2, 3, and 10, and added 3A. Both decrees enumerate their own scope.^[1][2] So the 2020 machinery runs on: the fee structure in Article 4, the five-year hold with annual MICI checks in Article 5, the special filing window in Article 7, the 30-business-day clock in Article 8, and the pre-entry filing by special power of attorney in Article 9.^[1]

The hold rule deserves its own line. The investment must stay in place five years from grant, and MICI verifies it each year. If it ends with no reinvestment on the decree’s terms, the permit is cancelled.^[1][2] The Qualified Investor page maps what this means for an applicant in money terms.

Where the 2026 myth misreads the chain

Firms keep selling a reversion. Uglobal writes that the floor will “revert to US$500,000 on October 15, 2026”. Lincoln Global writes that it “rises from USD 300,000 to USD 500,000 after 15 October 2026”. AbroadMobility hedges that “a higher minimum may apply”.^[6][7][8] Read against the chain above, the claim fails on each leg. The transitory article is gone. The standing text sets USD 300,000. No 2025 or 2026 instrument modifies the chain, per a register search dated 2026-09-08. MICI’s live page lists “Inversión Inmobiliaria USD 300,000”.^[4] Kraemer’s Spanish desk, in an analysis revised in April 2026, still reads the amount as running “de forma indefinida hasta nuevo aviso”.^[9] Nexo checked the gaceta and reported “esa fecha no existe”.^[5]

The kernel of truth is a review mandate, not a deadline. Decreto Ley 3 of 2008, Article 20, orders the executive to review the investment minimums every two years, and both Decree 722 and Decree 193 quote that mandate in their considerandos.^[1][2] Count two years from October 15, 2024, and you land near October 2026. A change would need a new decree through that review. Until one appears in the gaceta, USD 300,000 is the law. The 2026 visa changes page tracks that watch point.

What to verify with counsel

• The gaceta text itself, for any article your plan depends on. Both modification decrees are short.
• Any decree issued through the biennial review near October 2026, before you commit funds.
• The exact scope of Article 3A co-ownership, if a spouse will share title.
• The bank-guarantee terms for any pre-sale purchase under the 2024 route.

This page explains instruments, not your case. It states the law as of September 2026 and is not legal advice. Use a qualified Panamanian immigration attorney before filing anything.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-09