A short-stay permit, not a residency visa
The program people call the Panama digital nomad visa has a formal name. It is the Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto (VCRE), Spanish for short-stay visa for remote workers. Decreto Ejecutivo 198 created it on May 7, 2021. Gaceta Oficial 29290-A published it on May 20, 2021.[2][4] Article 1 of the decree creates the visa inside the No Residente category of the migration law, not inside any residency category.[1][3] The Servicio Nacional de Migración (SNM) lists it under NO RESIDENTES on its own category index. The index page was last modified May 26, 2026, checked September 8, 2026.[3]
That category placement is the whole story of what the visa is. No Residente means non-resident. The VCRE is a short-stay permit, not a residency path, and it never was one.[1] Competitor pages still sell it as a “digital nomad residency program”. The official texts say no such thing.[1][3] One decree-number mix-up circulates with it: DE 198 is not DE 197. Both decrees are dated May 7, 2021 and sit in the same Gaceta. DE 197 modifies the Friendly Nations instrument. DE 198 creates the remote-worker visa.[2] The decreto-198 page walks the decree article by article.
The income floor: B/.36,000 a year
The decree sets the floor in two places, and the two figures agree. Article 1.3 requires foreign-source income of no less than B/.36,000 a year. Article 2.5.c requires the employer letter to state monthly income not below B/.3,000. Twelve months of B/.3,000 is B/.36,000.[1] Law-firm and 2026 guides write the same figures as USD 36,000 a year and USD 3,000 a month.[4][5][6]
Proving the income is its own article. Article 4 accepts two forms. The first is a bank certification that the received income comes from abroad and matches the declared work. The second is account statements from a foreign or local bank, stamped by the bank to show the fund transfer.[1] At renewal, the applicant files the same income proof again under Article 5.[1]
Self-employed applicants answer with different documents. Article 3 swaps out two items from the list, the foreign-company certification and the employer letter. In their place come two others. One is a certificate of company registration for the applicant’s own firm. The other is a notarized sworn declaration about the clients. It covers client names, services, earnings, the origin of funds, and how often payment arrives.[1]
Who qualifies under the decree
Article 1 names two eligible profiles. The first is a person with an operative contract with a foreign transnational company. The second is an autonomous or independent teleworker whose functions produce effects abroad.[1] In plain terms: a remote employee of a foreign company, or a freelancer or business owner serving clients outside Panama.
The application can start from inside or outside Panama. One condition applies either way: a Panamanian legal representative files on the applicant’s behalf. That route is documented in a 2026 firm guide.[6] Processing typically runs 3 to 6 months, roughly 60 to 120 business days, once the file is submitted. That figure is a single firm’s 2026 estimate. No official service level exists.[6]
The 12-item document set
The SNM requirements sheet lists 12 items, numbered 1 through 13. Item 8 is absent from the official PDF:[1]
- Power of attorney plus application, through a lawyer
- Three photos
- Authenticated copy of the passport
- Criminal-record certificate
- Health certificate
- Sworn declaration of personal history
- Application form with repatriation commitment
- Medical insurance policy
- Certification of the foreign company’s registration
- Employer letter stating income of at least B/.3,000 a month
- Sworn declaration of no local job offer or service
- Payment of B/.250
The criminal-record certificate comes from Article 28 of Decreto Ley 3 of 2008. DE 198 folds those general rules into its own list.[1] The medical insurance policy must be valid in Panama for the entire stay. A short-term travel insurance policy does not satisfy the rule.[1][6]
What it costs: US$300 in government fees, legal extra
The government side is fixed and small. The decree and the SNM sheet set B/.250 payable with the application. They add B/.50 for the carné, the card itself. That is US$300 in total government cost.[1][5][6]
Legal fees are separate, and published figures disagree by scope. NDM Law Firm, in a 2026 guide, quotes legal fees from US$1,500. That lands the all-in figure near US$1,800.[6] Competitor pages from the February 2026 corpus framed the whole process at US$400 to US$800.[5][6] Those older numbers bundled the government fees with thinner legal work. The research register behind this page treats the 2026 firm quote as current. It treats the older range as out-of-date competitor pricing, not a second official tariff. Treat US$300 as the fixed part and the legal quote as firm-dependent.
The local-work ban written into Article 7
The visa exists for work that serves clients abroad, and the decree polices that line twice. Applicants sign the sworn declaration of no local job offer or service as part of the document set.[1] Then Article 7 states the consequence. If the holder comes to represent the foreign company for local activities, the visa is cancelled.[5] A remote employee who starts selling to Panamanian clients through their employer’s local presence loses the status. This is not a work-permit question. A separate work permit is its own regime, and this visa sits outside it.
The dependents question the decree never answers
Neither the decree nor the SNM sheet includes any dependent provision.[1] The February 2026 competitor corpus advertised a “USD 4,000 per month with dependents” tier anyway. No fetched primary text supports that tier. The decree, the SNM sheet, and the Kraemer, Rio Times, and NDM guides are all silent on it.[1][4][5][6] The honest reading is blunt. A partner or child of a VCRE holder needs their own status. It is filed separately, on whatever visa their situation supports.
Tax: what the decree does not say
Decreto 198 contains no tax article. Foreign-source income is not taxed in Panama because the system is territorial, and that is the entire mechanism.[5][6] The visa grants no tax break, and it needs to grant none: the income it requires was already foreign-source by design. Anyone pitching this visa as a “0 percent tax” program is dressing up the territorial rule as a visa benefit. Whether months in Panama shift your own tax residency is a separate question. It has its own triggers, and it belongs with a tax advisor, not with the visa application.
The 18-month wall and what comes after
The stay is 9 months, renewable once for 9 more. The cap is 18 months total, and after the term runs out the visa is not extendable.[1][5][6] There is no path from the VCRE to residency, because the visa is a No Residente short-stay category. Holders who want to stay beyond 18 months need a different visa.[5][6]
One question keeps coming up in the expat forums: remote-worker visa first, then a move to the Friendly Nations Visa? The mechanics are two separate filings. The Friendly Nations pathway is a residency route with its own requirements and its own clock. The site’s DNV vs Friendly Nations comparison page works through the differences in detail. Anyone planning that sequence should watch the two timelines together. The 18-month cap does not pause while a residency application is pending.
What to verify with an immigration attorney
- The current SNM sheet. The document list is administrative, so it can move while the decree text stands still.
- Your own insurance policy wording against the full-stay, valid-in-Panama rule, before you buy it.
- The client-location rule against how your employer or business actually bills, if any revenue touches Panama.
- Status planning for any family member traveling with you, since the visa covers one person only.
This page states the rules as of September 2026 from the decree and the SNM’s own documents. It is not legal advice, and it does not assess individual cases. Use a qualified Panamanian immigration attorney before filing anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has anyone done the Remote Worker (Digital Nomad) visa and transitioned to the Friendly Nations Visa?
Yes, and the mechanics are a fresh filing, not a conversion. The remote-worker permit is a No Residente short-stay visa capped at 18 months, and it grants nothing toward residency. A Friendly Nations application is a separate filing with its own requirements, filed on its own merits. People on the short-stay visa who want to stay longer run both tracks against the same calendar: the 18-month cap on one side, the Friendly Nations processing time on the other.
Is it actually possible to be a remote worker under the digital nomad visa?
Yes, for work that produces its effects outside Panama. The decree covers two profiles: a person with an operative contract with a foreign transnational company, and an autonomous or independent teleworker whose functions produce effects abroad. The line is the client's location. Working for clients or employers in Panama is prohibited, and applicants sign a sworn declaration that they have not accepted a local job offer or service. The visa is cancelled if the holder starts representing the foreign company for local activities.
What are the constraints on the visa for remote income?
Four main ones. Income must be foreign-source and at least B/.36,000 a year. The employer letter must state monthly income of at least B/.3,000, and self-employed applicants file a notarized sworn declaration describing their clients instead. Proof of income takes one of two forms: a bank certification that the money comes from abroad and matches the declared work, or account statements with bank authentication stamps showing the transfers. Health insurance valid in Panama for the entire stay is also required, and short-term travel insurance does not satisfy the rule.
I work remotely for a US company. Will Panama tax that income?
No, and not because the visa grants an exemption. Panama taxes on a territorial basis, so foreign-source income is not taxed in Panama. Decreto 198 contains no tax article at all, which means the visa neither adds nor removes tax obligations. Your US filing obligations are a separate question that this visa does not touch, and a US tax advisor is the right person for that side.
Are there digital nomad visas that can lead to residency?
Panama's does not. The Visa de Corta Estancia como Trabajador Remoto sits in the No Residente category, caps out at 18 months, and holds no conversion path into any residency category. Staying in Panama beyond the cap requires a different visa altogether, applied for separately.
What is the easiest country to get a digital nomad visa?
This site verifies Panama only, so it cannot rank countries. Panama's own bar is specific: foreign income of at least B/.36,000 a year, a 12-item document set that includes a criminal-record certificate and full-stay health insurance, and processing that one 2026 firm estimates at 3 to 6 months. There is no official service level, so the timeline is an estimate, not a rule. If your real goal is residency rather than a base for a year and a half, the digital nomad visa is the wrong instrument for it.
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