The job route: qualifying with work in Panama
If a company in Panama hires you, that job can be your economic tie for the Friendly Nations Visa.
Your employer signs a letter with your position, your salary and a promise to cover your repatriation costs, and gives you its Public Registry certificate and its Notice of Operation. Before Immigration approves your residency, you and your employer must also get a work permit from the Ministry of Labor, MITRADEL. The decree sets no minimum salary.
Who this route is for
This route fits you if a company already operating in Panama wants to hire you. It can be a large employer, a small business or a company you set up yourself, as long as it hires you and meets the same paperwork as any other employer. The decree excludes activities and professions that Panamanian law reserves for nationals, so a job in one of those fields cannot support this visa.
Executive Decree 416 of 2012, article 3.2.a, as worded by Executive Decree 226 of 2021, article 2
The three papers your employer gives you
- A job letter on company letterhead, signed by the legal representative, that states your position, your salary and the employer’s commitment to pay your repatriation costs if needed.
- A certificate from the Public Registry of Panama for the employing company.
- The company’s Notice of Operation, its business license. If the company is not required to hold one, it gives you the supporting document described in article 4 of Law 5 of 2017.
Executive Decree 416 of 2012, article 3.2.a.1 to a.3, as worded by Executive Decree 226 of 2021
The work permit is a separate step
The visa lets you live in Panama. The right to work comes from a different office. The decree says that, for your residency to be approved, you and your employer must apply to the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development, MITRADEL, for the permit that lets you work in the country. The 2026 decree that updated the country list repeats the point: being on the list does not exempt you from that permit. Plan the two applications together, because one depends on the other.
Executive Decree 226 of 2021, article 2; Executive Decree 16 of 2026, recitals
Can your own company hire you?
Nothing in the decree forbids it. The rule only asks that the employer be registered in the Public Registry and hold a Notice of Operation or its legal substitute, and that you get the MITRADEL work permit like any other employee. If you plan to open a company and work for it, read our guide on the company route first, because the papers overlap.
Executive Decree 416 of 2012, article 3.2.a, as worded by Executive Decree 226 of 2021
Working remotely for a foreign company
The job route needs a Panamanian employer. A contract with a company abroad does not meet it. If you work remotely for a foreign company, Panama has a different permit for remote workers under Executive Decree 198 of 2021: it is a short stay permit, not a residency, granted for nine months and renewable once for nine more, and it asks for at least B/. 36,000 of income from a foreign source. Working as an independent contractor is not listed as a reason for the Friendly Nations Visa.
Executive Decree 226 of 2021, article 2; Executive Decree 198 of 2021
What the rules do not say
- A minimum salary: the job letter states your salary, but no figure is set.
- How long MITRADEL takes to issue the work permit, or who pays for it.
- The percentage of foreign staff a company may hire: that is labor law, and we check it case by case before we advise you.
Executive Decree 416 of 2012, article 3, as worded by Executive Decree 226 of 2021; derecho-migratorio review of October 26, 2026
If your job ends
Your job is the reason for your permit. The Immigration Law lets Immigration cancel a permit when the reasons that justified it cease. The law says Immigration may cancel, not that it must, and we found no rule on how this is applied when you change employers. Tell us before you resign or change jobs, so we can plan the change with you.
Decree-Law 3 of 2008, article 31.8
- Ask your future employer for the job letter with position, salary and the repatriation commitment.
- Get the company’s Public Registry certificate and its Notice of Operation.
- Start the MITRADEL work permit with your employer at the same time as the residency.
- Check that your profession is not reserved for Panamanian nationals.
Have a job offer in Panama? Send us the job title and the company name and we will tell you how the two permits fit together.
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