Panama Pensionado Visa: Requirements for 2026

This is a reading of public Panamanian rules as of 6 October 2026, not a legal opinion and not a filing you should submit on your own. A Panamanian lawyer presents the case to the Servicio Nacional de Migración. Figures below come from the migration service sheet for Jubilado Pensionado (file dated April 2026) and from Law 6 of 16 June 1987. If a number is not in those documents, it is marked as unverified.

What the permit is

The Panama Pensionado visa is indefinite residence for a foreigner with a lifetime pension of at least B/.1,000 a month. The April 2026 migration sheet quotes Article 200: the pension or retirement income must come from a foreign government, an international organization, or a private company, and it must be granted for life. The balboa trades at par with the US dollar, so the figure is the same in dollars. The sheet’s fourth exception says the permit is indefinite and does not need an extension.

There is no country list. Unlike the Friendly Nations visa, nationality is not the test. A US, UK, or Canadian pension can qualify if the certificate shows a lifetime payment at or above the minimum. The sheet does not print a minimum age for the residence permit itself.

Use this page for the pension route. The 2026 retirement guide is the wider question of cost, safety, and whether Panama fits a retirement. The relocation guide is the moving checklist. Open Horizon is the managed-move program, not the owner of this keyword.

The income tests

The sheet states three money rules. Amounts are monthly.

Situation	What the April 2026 sheet requires
Standard case	A lifetime pension of at least B/.1,000 a month, or the equivalent in foreign currency, certified by the foreign government, international organization, or private company that pays it.
Personal real estate	If the applicant has bought property in Panama in their personal name for more than B/.100,000, the pension may be at least B/.750 a month. The sheet asks for a Public Registry certificate of that property when this exception is used.
Spouses	The two pensions may be added together to reach the B/.1,000 minimum.
Each dependent	An extra B/.250 a month of economic solvency, shown with additional pension or a local bank reference.

The property exception says “a título personal.” It does not say a company or a foundation holding the title qualifies for the B/.750 test. Buyers comparing neighborhoods should use the Panama real estate investment guide. That page is about the market, not this permit.

A private-company pension

If a private company pays the pension, the sheet adds three items on top of the general list: a letter from a foreign pension administrator, trust company, mutual fund, insurer, or bank stating that it administers funds for the company or the applicant; a certificate that the company which grants the pension and administers the fund exists and is in good standing; and a copy of a payment receipt or bank statement.

Documents the sheet lists

The April 2026 sheet (PRP-JP) asks for:

• A notarized power of attorney and application, including the parents’ names and nationalities.
• Three photographs.
• A notarized or authenticated copy of the passport.
• A criminal record certificate.
• A health certificate.
• A sworn personal-background form.
• The pension certificate described above.
• The extra B/.250 a month for each dependent, if any.
• The Public Registry certificate, if the property exception is used.
• The three private-pension documents, if a company rather than a government pays.

The same sheet does not print a government filing fee, a lawyer’s fee, or a processing time in days or months. Those amounts are unverified here. The Friendly Nations guide does quote B/.250 and B/.800 certified checks, because they are printed on that subcategory’s sheet. They are not printed on this one. Do not copy them across.

The legal basis printed at the foot of the sheet is the Political Constitution, Law 9 of 24 June 1987, Decree Law 3 of 22 February 2008, Executive Decree No. 320 of 8 August 2008, Articles 200, 201, 202, and 203 as amended by Executive Decree No. 26 of 2 March 2009, and Law 38 of 2000. The public copy is the migration service PDF at migracion.gob.pa under the April 2026 uploads path.

Dependents

Dependent children receive a temporary permit until they turn 25, and only if they prove they are in full-time study. The sheet says they do not receive permanent stay or Pensionado status. The exception is a dependent child with a proven profound disability.

Discounts are a different statute

The residence sheet does not list the discounts. Those sit in Law 6 of 16 June 1987, republished as a texto único in Gaceta Oficial Digital No. 26314-A of 30 June 2009. Article 1 of that text gives the benefits to Panamanians or foreign residents who are at least 55 if women and at least 60 if men, and to disability pensioners of a younger age. Holding this migration permit is not, by itself, the sentence that prints the discount. A merchant or agency may also ask for the age or for a local pensioner card.

Items the texto único does state include:

• 50% off the general or economy admission to recreation and entertainment such as cinemas, theatres, sports, and public shows, with a charity exception.
• 30% off interurban buses, trains, and boats, and 25% off airfares of national public or private airlines.
• Hotel, motel, and guesthouse discounts of 50% Monday through Thursday and 30% Friday through Sunday.
• 20% off fees for general and specialist medical consultations, 15% off dental services, and 15% off optometry.
• 20% off technical and professional fees, and 20% off prostheses and assistive devices.
• 50% off closing costs or commissions on personal and commercial loans in the applicant’s name at banks, finance companies, and credit institutions.
• A freeze of the property tax on a home held in the person’s name when it is their only property, and an exemption from the valorización charge on that same sole residence.

The texto único we read does not list a utility discount or a 10% pharmacy discount. Older summaries that quote those figures are not repeated here.

What this permit does not do

The April 2026 sheet does not grant a work permit and does not mention the Ministerio de Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral. Treat employment as a separate question. It also does not confer tax residency. A pension that Panama does not tax is not the same thing as a certificate of tax residence, and it does not decide how the home country treats that pension. The Panama tax savings calculator is a comparison tool, not that certificate.

Friendly Nations remains the listed-country route, with a job or a B/.200,000 property or deposit, and a two-year provisional permit. Pensionado is the lifetime-pension route, and the sheet calls the permit indefinite. They are not substitutes.

Sources

• Servicio Nacional de Migración, “Requisitos para Jubilado Pensionado (PRP-JP),” April 2026 PDF, quoting Article 200 and the four exceptions: migracion.gob.pa.
• Servicio Nacional de Migración, permisos migratorios index, which lists Jubilado Pensionado under políticas especiales: migracion.gob.pa/permisos-migratorios.
• Law 6 of 16 June 1987, texto único, Gaceta Oficial Digital No. 26314-A, 30 June 2009: gacetaoficial.gob.pa.