Three Programs, Three Different Buys
Panama sells residency through three investment programs. The first thing an investor should notice is the spread. Entry points run from B/.80,000 in a reforestation project to USD 750,000 parked in a bank deposit. The three programs do not differ only in price. One grants permanent residency on approval. One makes you wait two years first. One runs a ladder. The size of the check decides whether you get a temporary, provisional, or permanent permit at all. Which one fits depends on investment amount and asset type.
The three programs are the Qualified Investor Visa (QIV), the Self Economic Solvency category, and the reforestation investor route. The comparison runs on the five numbers that decide a purchase. Those numbers are threshold, asset, status granted, holding period, and fees. Figures are current as of 2026-09. Each program rests on instruments that can change. Verify against current SNM and MICI material before wiring anything.
Four rows hold the whole comparison. The sections that follow deepen one column at a time.
| QIV | Self Solvency | Reforestation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry threshold | USD 300,000 in real estate under current law; USD 500,000 in securities; USD 750,000 in a fixed-term deposit[2][3][1] | USD 300,000, in a bank deposit or in property[11][12] | B/.80,000, B/.100,000, or B/.350,000 by tier[15][16][17] |
| Asset types | Real estate, securities through a Casa de Valores, fixed-term bank deposit[1][2] | Fixed-term deposit at any general-license bank, or lien-free real estate[11][12][13] | Shares in a qualifying reforestation project[15][16] |
| Status granted first | Direct permanent residency, no provisional stage[1][3][8] | 2-year provisional permit, then permanent on application[11][12] | Temporal, provisional, or automatic permanent, by tier[15][16][17] |
| Holding period | 5 years from grant, with annual MICI verification[1][2][3] | Investment re-documented at the permanent application[11][12] | Maintained through the ladder; PR stage adds project-validity certifications[15][16] |
Thresholds by Asset Type
The QIV thresholds differ by asset, and the differences are not cosmetic. Real estate sits at USD 300,000 under current law. “Current law” means Decreto Ejecutivo 193 of 2024, published in Gaceta Oficial 30140-B. It is a standing minimum in force since 2024-10-15, with no expiry written into the decree text.[2][3][4] Securities cost more: USD 500,000 in freely negotiable instruments bought through a Casa de Valores, committed for five years. The bank-deposit route costs most. It takes USD 750,000 in a fixed-term deposit, lien-free, for a minimum five-year term, at any general-license bank.[1][2][3]
Self Solvency prices everything at USD 300,000, with two ways to hold it. The deposit route puts USD 300,000 in a fixed-term certificate in your personal name, funds from abroad, at any general-license bank operating in Panama. The Banco-Nacional-only claim that still circulates was wrong. The amount has held unchanged through September 2026.[11][13][14] The property route accepts B/.300,000 or more in real estate, free of liens. Title can sit in your name. It can also sit in a Private Interest Foundation where you or your dependents are beneficiaries, or in an SA with nominal registered shares in your name. Bearer shares do not qualify. If the property is worth more than the threshold, paid-in equity of B/.300,000 qualifies. A local bank can finance the remainder.[12][13][14]
One rule cuts across both solvency routes. The funds must come from abroad, documented by bank certification of the foreign transfer. Mortgaged or financed amounts above the paid-in B/.300,000 do not count toward the threshold.[11][12][13][14] Law-firm guidance flags funds-origin paperwork as the most frequent cause of observations and rejections on this category. Budget real time for that paperwork, not just for the money.[11][12][13][14]
Reforestation is the small door, with a ladder behind it. B/.80,000 buys a temporal permit. B/.100,000 buys the permanent track: a provisional permit first, then permanence. B/.350,000 buys automatic permanent residency. The ladder descends from a B/.40,000 origin in Ley 24 of 1992. Two corrections matter for anyone comparing notes with older guides. The B/.80,000 tier is the temporal tier. The B/.100,000 tier is the permanent-track tier. They are not two prices for the same product.[15][16][17]
What You Get Immediately: Direct PR vs Provisional
Status speed is where QIV spends its premium. Approval lands directly in permanent residency: the SNM’s Residente Permanente with the subcategoría Inversionista Calificado. There is no provisional stage to sit through.[1][3][8] The program’s own marketing point is the sequencing. Permanent status comes first, and the five-year holding period runs from grant.
Self Solvency works the other way. The first document is a two-year provisional permit. The permanent filing comes after that term. The permanent filing drops the police certificate and the fee cheques. It adds a Paz y Salvo de renta, the tax-clearance certificate required by Article 195 of DE 320/2008.[11][12][13]
Reforestation status depends on which rung you stepped on. The B/.80,000 tier yields a temporal permit, renewable. The B/.100,000 tier yields a provisional permit on the permanent track. Only the B/.350,000 tier yields automatic permanent residency.[15][16][17] Buying permanence with a five-figure check is possible on exactly one of these programs.
Status speed carries a maintenance footnote. QIV permanent residency stays alive with a light presence duty. The official MICI program rule asks for at least one visit to Panama every two years. So the direct-permanent outcome does not tether an investor to the country year-round.[3][6]
Holding Periods and Exit Rules
QIV holds the investment for five years from grant, across all three asset routes, with annual MICI verification. If the investment ceases during that window without reinvestment on the decree’s terms, the permit is cancelled.[1][2][3] Exit planning is therefore a calendar item. Year five from grant is the earliest the asset can be unwound without putting status at risk.
Solvency’s maintenance duty expresses itself at conversion. The permanent filing re-documents the investment, so the tie needs to be current and clean when that filing happens. The fee cheques are not repeated at that stage.[11][12][13][14] On the property side, remember that only paid-in lien-free equity counts. Unwinding equity during the provisional period works against the very number the filing rests on.[12][13]
Reforestation’s PR stage swaps paperwork. The police certificate and the cheques drop out. Validity certifications for the reforestation company and the registro forestal come in.[15][16][17] The asset itself is a project interest. Exit value depends on the project’s standing as much as on timber or land.
Fees: The Decree Payments Nobody Markets
Investment amounts get the headlines. Decree-level payments decide budgets. Here the three programs part ways sharply.
| Payment | QIV | Self Solvency | Reforestation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application to Tesoro Nacional | USD 5,000[1] | B/.250[11][12] | B/.250[15][16] |
| Repatriation to SNM | USD 5,000[1] | B/.800[11][12] | B/.800[15][16] |
| Per dependent | USD 1,000 plus USD 1,000[1] | Not a decree-scaled fee | Not a decree-scaled fee |
| Card and standard items | Carné B/.100.00 alongside the B/.250 solicitud and B/.800 repatriación line items[18][1] | Cheques at the provisional stage only; ReloFirm quotes US$500 government at the permanent stage and labels the B/.800 a deposit refundable at permanent approval[11][12][14] | Cheques at application, both tiers[15][16] |
Read the first two rows twice. QIV’s decree payments alone total USD 10,000 for the main applicant. USD 5,000 goes to the Tesoro Nacional, plus USD 5,000 to the SNM as a repatriation deposit. Dependents add USD 1,000 plus USD 1,000 each.[1] The QIV carné fee of B/.100.00 sits alongside the standard B/.250 and B/.800 line items in the official SNM costs table. It is separate from the USD 10,000.[18][1] The other two programs pay the ordinary residency pair.
Legal fees stack on top. The published numbers are firm quotes, not official tariffs. For QIV, Diaz & Asociados publishes legal work from USD 3,500. ReloFirm prices USD 3,000 for the primary applicant, plus USD 2,000 per dependent, plus miscellaneous from USD 400. That is a band of roughly USD 3,000 to 3,500 and up. Kraemer & Kraemer publishes a payment structure without a figure.[9][10][8] On reforestation, one packaging datapoint. Kraemer and NDM both quote USD 360,000 for the express tier. That is the B/.350,000 investment plus USD 10,000 in maintenance and management.[15][16]
The $500,000 Question: What Current Law Says
A claim circulates in advisory material that the QIV real-estate threshold rises to USD 500,000 on 2026-10-15. This section exists to put that claim where it belongs. That is the category of things no instrument says.
The decree text says otherwise. DE 193 of 2024, in Gaceta Oficial 30140-B, sets the real-estate minimum at USD 300,000 as a standing rule in force since 2024-10-15. Its text contains no expiry and no scheduled step-up.[2][3][5][6] Reporting that checked the gaceta chain directly found no 2026-10-15 date anywhere in it.[4][7] The current-law answer, as of 2026-09, is that USD 300,000 is the standing real-estate minimum for QIV.
Treat any advisory page asserting an automatic increase as a reason to check its other numbers. Thresholds change by new decree, not by calendar arithmetic on an old one. A firm repeating the USD 500,000 reversion as fact is telling you how carefully it reads gacetas.
Which Investment Fits Which Investor
Liquidity first. If the money needs to stay in cash-like form, Self Solvency’s deposit route is the only USD 300,000 option that keeps the asset in a bank rather than dirt or timber. It accepts any general-license bank in your own name.[11][13] If cash can sit untouched for five years at a higher balance, QIV’s deposit route does the same at USD 750,000. It comes with a faster status payoff.[1][3]
Speed second. An investor who wants permanent residency at approval, not after a two-year provisional term, is choosing between two options. One is QIV at USD 300,000 in real estate. The other is the reforestation express tier at B/.350,000.[1][3][15] Between them, the trade is asset type and fee weight. QIV adds USD 10,000 in decree payments. Reforestation adds project risk wrapped in a timber asset.[1][15][16]
Budget third. The reforestation ladder opens at B/.80,000, the lowest threshold in Panama’s investment categories. It prices its permanence at B/.350,000. Solvency holds the middle at USD 300,000 all-in by asset. QIV’s real-estate floor matches solvency at USD 300,000. But it buys the direct-permanent outcome the other two sell only after waiting or paying more.[2][3][11][15]
Every threshold and fee on this page is verified against instruments current as of 2026-09. Investment migrations move by decree. So before committing capital, confirm the numbers with a Panamanian immigration attorney and the live SNM and MICI material. The residency overview places these three programs beside Panama’s non-investment routes, which cost less and ask for different things.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I qualify?
Qualification turns on which asset you buy and how much you place. QIV accepts USD 300,000 in real estate under current law, USD 500,000 in securities through a Casa de Valores, or USD 750,000 in a lien-free fixed-term bank deposit, maintained for five years. Self Solvency accepts USD 300,000 from abroad, held as a fixed-term deposit at any general-license bank or as lien-free property. Reforestation qualifies at B/.80,000, B/.100,000, or B/.350,000 in a qualifying project, with the amount setting your tier.
What exactly am I buying for $300k and how do I exit?
At USD 300,000 you are buying one of two things. Under QIV you buy real estate that must be maintained for five years from grant, verified annually by MICI, with the permit cancelled if the investment ceases without reinvestment on the decree's terms. Under Self Solvency you place USD 300,000 from abroad in a deposit or property, re-document the investment at the permanent application, and, on the property route, can finance the remainder of a higher-value purchase above your paid-in B/.300,000.
How much money do you need to get an investor visa?
Entry thresholds run from B/.80,000, the reforestation temporal tier, to USD 750,000, the QIV fixed-deposit route. The figure most quoted, USD 300,000, is the current-law QIV real-estate minimum and also the Self Solvency level. On top of the investment sit decree payments, USD 10,000 for QIV or B/.250 plus B/.800 for the other two, and legal fees published at roughly USD 3,000 to 3,500 and up for QIV work.
How much is a golden visa in Panama?
"Golden Visa" is the market alias for the Qualified Investor Visa, QIV. Its entry points are USD 300,000 in real estate under current law, USD 500,000 in securities, and USD 750,000 in a fixed-term deposit. Add USD 10,000 in decree payments for the main applicant and legal fees from about USD 3,000 to 3,500 as the published firm band.
Are those lawyer fees normal?
Published firm quotes put QIV legal work from USD 3,500 at Diaz & Asociados, and ReloFirm prices the primary applicant at USD 3,000 plus USD 2,000 per dependent plus from USD 400 in miscellaneous costs. A quote inside that USD 3,000 to 3,500 band is therefore within what firms publish. Some firms, including Kraemer & Kraemer on QIV, publish a payment structure without a figure, and actual fees move with case complexity, so treat the published numbers as starting points, not ceilings.
Last reviewed: