An english translation of the NEW IMMIGRATION LAW, in its final version, signed by the President, is now in the IMMIGRATION folder in the FILES section of this group. Thank you to Sam Taliaferro for providing the translation.

I quickly skimmed through the final version and it appears that most of the objectionable sections in the draft have been removed. The no-permanent-visas language has been removed. The "deportation for pure speech" provisions have been removed. The increase for the deposit/real estate purchase visa from $200K to $350K has been removed. (The specifics for these and other non pensionado permanent residency visas are specifically relegated to the implementing regulations (which means any of these provisions may yet reappear.) Still present is the clause that allows a residency visa to be revoked if the visa holder ceases to do that which the visa was issued for. While this is ot defined, logic would indicate that it would apply if you ceased operating a business for which you were granted a business investor visa or ceased owning a bank account or piece of real estate that you used to qualify for a visa. Also, I spoke with an attorney today and was told that to the extent any of the provisions of the new law (or the implementing regulations) changed the rules of the game for existing residency visa holders, they would not be applied to them, because retroactive changes are barred by the constitution. In other words: Subject to what is put into the implementing regulations, the final version is a clear improvement over the draft. A copy of the new law is in the Immigration folder here.

Has the Panama government abolished permanent residency for foreigners? It sure looks that way. If a draft of the proposed law, as given to the Colegio de Abogados, is in fact what was adopted by the Cabinet on Friday, there will be no more permanent visas issued to foreigners. Instead, formerly "permanent" residency offered to pensionados, business investors, farmers, investors in CD's and/or real estate, will be offered "provisionally" for 2 years, then for 10 more years, after which the government MAY choose to renew for another 10 years - but the applicants will have to demonstrate that their initial investment qualifier (a business, a home, a CD) still belonged to then. If not, they will be deported unless they can qualify for another kind of visa. Furthermore, the dollar amount required for people who qualify by means of a bank deposit or purchase of real estate (or a combination of both) will go up from $200K to $350K. Increases in other types of investor qualifiers (such as pensions) will be left to the implementing regulations. What about people who already qualified for what they were told was PERMANENT residency under prior law? Will they be "grandfathered" and allowed to remain permanently? Or will the rug be yanked from under them? So far, the lawyers' aren't saying...at least, not publicly.