Updated: October 2017
The Friendly Nations visa is Panama's best residency program.
Once you get a friendly nations visa, you are then eligible to apply for a work permit. In fact they make it easy to do so.
It is all part of an effort by the Panama government to ease their shortage of skilled workers.
This permanent resident program is referred to as the friendly nations visa because of the language used in the executive order that created it:
"foreign nationals from specific countries that maintain friendly, professional, economic, and investment relationships with the Republic of Panama."
The Friendly Nations visa's legal name is Permanent Residence for Nationals of Specific Countries (NSC). Now you can understand why they came up with a nickname for it.
Since May 2012, when this visa was created, it has been both easier & faster for foreigners to get Panama permanent residency.
There are now 50 countries listed as friendly in the ever expanding list of countries Panama considers as qualifying for this visa. Here they are, in alphabetical order.
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Marino, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States of America, Uruguay, United Kingdom (Great Britain & Northern Ireland).
FYI, unless you are married to a Panamanian, foreigners are never permitted, even with this visa, to practice as medical & veterinary doctors, attorneys, architects, and engineers. (See 25 forbidden jobs)
The permit covers your dependents, children under 18, relatives with disability, and parents who depend on them.
Dependents can include your spouse and children up to the age of 25, if they are full time university students. You must provide a written letter of responsibility regarding your dependents. In addition, every son or daughter dependent over the age of 18 must provide an authenticated "I'm not married" certificate from their respective country.
After you have filed your applications - with all the required documents - the immigration office will issue a one year temporary residency card (carnet). This temporary card will be replaced by a permanent residency card once the application is approved.
Until February 2017, a obtaining a Friendly Nations Visa earned you a fast track to a work permit. Previously there was a a Presidential Decree ordering Panama’s Ministry of Labor to fast track acceptance of work permits for friendly nations citizens.
But in Februrary Panama made getting a work permit much harder to get. The easy path to work permits for Friendly Nations visa holders got alot harder. Click to read about the changes to the work permit requirements for Friendly Nation Visa holders.
Go here for information on getting a work permit in Panama - with and without this visa.
Panama's Pensionado visa is very popular.
There are 2 things to consider when comparing it to the Friendly Nation Visa
You can learn more about the Pensionado Visa on my site.
If you qualify for a Friendly Nations visa, the process to get a residency permit is easy. So if you were going to marry that young Panamanian only so you could get your residency permit, you may want to reconsider.
You can also explore 3 other Panama resident visa options.
Tegus going left in Puerto Armuelles, PanamaMid flood-tide, beach break, waist to chest high glassy, offshore breeze.
Decent waves for Puerto Armuelles.
I was out on my fish, and I had a bunch of fast little rides; a fine way to start the day.
My favorite surf spot is located a ten minute drive north from the center of town (twelve minutes on a bicycle).
The beach is called Corazon de Jesus. It is a small beach front neighborhood that is becoming popular with expats.
For that reason, it is probably the most surfed beach in town.
Corazon is a beach break, as are most of the local surf spots, with equal numbers of lefts and rights.
The waves there are usually clean, rideable probably about a third of the time in the rainy season.
Right now it is the rainy season.
The ocean in Puerto Armuelles has been know to be flat as a pancake for a solid month during the rainy season.
However, the rainy season is also when we get our south swell.
We have ten days of solid of 3-5 foot “epic” Puerto Armuelles conditions usually once or twice a season.
Guys come from as far away as David (an hour and a half) to catch our ideal surf conditions.
About that time, David's own main break Playa Barqueta is getting pounded by 15 to twenty foot close-out faces. Playa Barqueta has a full-on exposure to a huge Antarctic swell. It is an all -around nasty place to surf with super dangerous currents.
In Puerto Armuelles, under ideal conditions, we are probably riding 8-10 foot faces.
Surfing in Puerto Armuelles (Sarah pictured)The usual situation involves an offshore breeze in the morning that turns to onshore around midday - Except on cloudy days, when the wind never picks up and the surf stays good all day long.
There might be as many as a dozen surfers in town, mostly old gringos, mostly longboarders.
Most of these surfers have lived and surfed in Hawaii, California, or both.
Most of the surfer gringos are busy starting up businesses.
Ah.. Surfing in Puerto (Tegus pictured)(A few of the old guy surfers run the Hooked on Panama fishing lodge. They are often too busy with clients to get out surfing much.
Sometimes, however, they come back to town with fantastic stories about surfing the really big breaks out at the tip of Punta Burica
Punta Burica is about a half hour from town by boat, or an hour and a half by car.
There are witnesses who say the wave out there is huge, hollow, and breaks for almost two kilometers.
For guys who really want to chase big waves from Puerto, you need to drive out of the shadow of Punta Burica.
Punta Burica effectively blocks about eighty percent of the power of the prevailing southwest swell.
Surf in Nearby Pavones1. If you are looking for professional class surf, just hop in your car and drive the two hours to world famous Pavones.
Pavones is on the Costa Rican side of Punta Burica. It hosts some of the most amazing left handed barrels on the planet.
2. You could also charter a local Puerto Armuelles fisherman to run you out to the tip of Punta Burica for the day.
You can decide to stay out on the point with Juancho and Luzmila at Mono Feliz.
In season, you can get into some awsome waves out there.
My wife and daughter travelled all over Panama for three solid months when we first got here in late 2006.
We visited some of the top surf destinations: Santa Catalina in Veraguas Province, Playa Venao and others in Santos Province of the Azuero Peninsula. We have since spent time in Bocas del Toro.
The bottom line was that the best surf destinations had that sort of “cool” surfer vibe that just didn't attract us as a family.
In addition, most of the best surf places were no more than a collection of cabanas, a few restaurants, and lots of bars.
There was no sense of “place” to anywhere we visited.
That is, until we arrived here in Puerto Armuelles.
My wife and I moved from Seattle, Washington.
We did not want to lose the very livable small village lifestyle that Seattle's neighborhoods are so famous for.
Like Seattle, Puerto Armuelles is also composed of distinct and attractive neighborhoods.
Searching for Perfect Family Surf SpotPuerto Armuelles is a highly “liveable” town with an excellent sense of place, and a “good feel” to it.
My decision to become a Puerto Armuelles surfer was a decision to put our family's quality of life ahead of just surfing.
For our family, it was definitely the right decision.
For me, as a surfer, Puerto Armuelles has been a good choice.
P.S. If you are looking for surf conditions in Panama. A good place to look is Magic Seaweed.
