“Shhh… don’t tell everybody!”
This whispered warning has been making the rounds in expat circles as Panama lands firmly on the map as THE PLACE for retirement and international relocation in 2025.
More people are applying for long-term residency than we’ve seen in years. So, it’s no wonder that those who’ve already discovered Panama’s charm are feeling a bit protective of their slice of paradise.
But Panama’s allure isn’t entirely new. Generations of adventurous souls have been finding their way to Panama for a very long time—lured by its beauty, stability, and opportunity. In fact, my family has had a front-row seat to witness the positive impact the expat community has had on Panama over the last couple of decades. So, whisper it if you must—but we’re thrilled to see this latest wave of settlers discovering what makes Panama so special.
This article explores what we are hearing as some of the main drivers for many of our clients who are choosing Panama. We will also note a few interesting trends we’ve observed and what we are doing at The Independent Lawyer to navigate this evolving Panama residency landscape during 2025.
The Appeal of a Second Residency in Panama
Anybody who is selling something in Panama always seems to feel the urge to sell Panama itself. Do a quick Google search of “Why Panama?”, and you’ll find a ton of articles written by authors who had the same clever idea.
And we don’t claim to be somehow above it all. Actually, in writing this article, everything in our Panama small-business-owner brains wants to tell you about Panama’s world-class quality of health care, affordable property taxes and low crime rate. And did I mention the stable political environment with solid infrastructure and a growing economy, but still a relatively low cost of living? And also a English-speaking population with an impressive cosmopolitan capital city that “looks like Miami”—all set against a backdrop of diverse, stunning landscapes??
Whew… so sorry for that. But now that we’ve gotten that out of our system, we’ll try to cut the bullshit for the remainder of the article.
Anyway, for the moment Panama doesn’t really need much help selling itself. Let’s talk about the actual reasons our clients tell us they are pursuing Panama residency.
Economic Uncertainty in Major Western Economies
In the US, Canada, and much of Europe, economic uncertainty has become a defining factor in how people think about their future.
Lingering inflation continues to erode purchasing power, with wage growth failing to keep up with the rising cost of living. And central banks add to the uncertainty by raising and lowering interest rates to manage inflation without triggering a recession.
And the rising cost of education and the rapid advancement of AI also raises a ton of questions about the value of traditional career paths. Does it make sense to invest six figures on a degree in a field that may not exist a decade later? A lot of well-to-do Panamanian families who would have sent their kids to the US for college a few years ago are now choosing universities in Europe where they get more bank for their buck. And even if we were living in the US, I would think we’d be considering the same options for our kids.
Should you invest in a 529 savings plan for your kid’s education at a state school? Maybe you’d be better off putting that market into an index fund…
But market also seem detached from reality, with soaring valuations soaring far beyond traditional valuation metrics. When is the shoe going to drop? Anyone who is in the market is probably wondering if they are playing a risky “greater fool” game.
This isn’t meant to sound overly bleak. But even for those who feel like they are doing pretty well for the moment, this era of economic uncertainty is prompting a bunch of people to reassess where to put down roots. And as a result, more people in the US, Canada, and Western Europe are exploring a second residency as a Plan B—or maybe even Plan A.
So, is Panama a better option?
Ok, well, there are less expensive places to buy groceries. But, people like that it is so easy to “buy local” in Panama. And Panama City is large enough that health-conscious consumers will find variety comparable to a lot of 2nd or 3rd-tier cities in more developed parts of the world.
And how about buying a home in Panama?
Well, some people will say Panama’s real estate market is overvalued based on current cap rates. They might be right if you are looking for short-term rent returns.
But Panama’s real estate market still offers bargains compared to many parts of the US, Canada, or Western Europe—especially per m2 for ocean-view properties. Combine that with Panama’s untapped potential—growing infrastructure, international business interest, and a rising expat community—and it’s hard to ignore the potential for long-term upside.
Panama also has solid enough infrastructure that a lot of people can now continue operating their business and servicing their clients remotely. This allows many people to avoid having to choose between Panama and their current income back in places like the US or Canada.
And what about taxes?
Well, one reason people really like Panama because it operates under a territorial tax system—meaning only income generated within Panama is subject to local taxation. So, an “offshore” company that generates entirely foreign-sourced income and doesn’t do business in Panama can conceivably pay ZERO income tax in Panama. And the dividends that such a company distributes to its shareholders may not be subject to any withholding taxes.
Meanwhile, US residents and citizens are taxed on worldwide income, including capital gains from foreign assets. And Canada’s capital gains taxes are among the highest in the world. Actually, during 2024, Canada bumped up the inclusion rate on capital gains from 50% to 75%.
And cryptocurrency profits are now also firmly on the radar of tax authorities in the US and Canada. Meanwhile, for the moment, Panama offers a more relaxed regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. And profits from trading on international exchanges generally qualify as foreign-sourced income and are not subject to local taxes.
Polarization and Political Uncertainty in Major Western Economies
In an era marked by deepening political divides, many would-be Panama residents are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the rising tensions and unpredictability shaping their home countries. The rise of extreme partisanship has led to governmental gridlock, abrupt policy shifts with every new administration, and a general sense of unease about the future.
Once again—we don’t want to paint an overly bleak picture. But here are how things look from where we are sitting:
Historically, the strength of institutions in the US, Canada, and Western Europe has provided a foundation for stability, leading to fairly consistent and predictable outcomes compared to most Latin American countries. But these days, it seems that the scripts are constantly being flipped, fostering a growing mistrust and lack of confidence in the system’s ability to navigate challenges.
Just recently on January 6, 2025—while we were writing this article—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation in the face of declining support and internal party pressure after nearly a decade in office. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has made a series of provocative statements suggesting a desire to expand U.S. territory to include a growing list of countries (and even the Panama Canal).
There is also just a perception of dishonesty in “First World” politics today—fueled by partisan spin, misinformation, and selective narratives. Everyone is constantly bombarded by an overwhelming amount of information, making it nearly impossible to discern fact from fiction. And even where neighbors can agree on the facts, ideological divides often prevent any consensus on what those facts mean or how they should guide decision-making. This erosion of shared reality leaves many feeling disillusioned and unmoored in an age of constant noise.
For many, politics at home feels like a high-stakes roller coaster. So, more and more people are seeking a second residency as a sort of insurance policy. And some people just want off the ride entirely.
Here at The Independent Lawyer, we saw a sharp increase in inquiries about Panama residency during 2024. And politics has been a MAJOR driver over the last 6 months—especially from the US. And what is interesting is that the inquiries have come from people across the political spectrum. This is not just a right wing-left wing trend. Actually, nobody seems particularly satisfied. And everybody has been a little uneasy.
By the way—Panama politics can be a roller-coaster as well. One former president has been holed up in the Nicaraguan Embassy for nearly a year following the upholding of his 10-year prison sentence for money laundering. During October-November 2023, the country erupted in widespread protests around the National Assembly’s approval of a contract with First Quantum Minerals, the operator of a large copper mine in Panama. Things can go a little off the wall from time to time—and when they do, it isn’t happening in some far-off place like Washington, DC. Panama is small enough that you can sometimes see it and feel it right outside of your window.
But while the political theater here can be lively, Panama’s mainstream political landscape has mostly been characterized by centrist parties over the last several decades. There has been a mostly consistent focus on trying to foster economic growth and to maintain Panama’s position as a global trade and financial hub.
Moreover most of the divisive social issues plaguing so much of Western politics just aren’t heated debates here. And while the political divides can be nuanced and involve some complexity—everything is happening at a much smaller, more observable scale in Panama.
So, for those weary of the unpredictable winds of political change in their home countries, Panama is increasingly seen as a place where planning for the future doesn’t feel like gambling on the next election.
Optimism About Panama’s 2024 Elections
Speaking about politics—Panama’s very recent 2024 elections have sparked a sense of optimism. The newly elected President José Raúl Mulino served as Minister of Public Security during the Martinelli administration (2009-1014), a period widely recognized for its economic prosperity and significant infrastructure investments.
Martinelli himself was (and continues to be) a very controversial figure—he is the one I mentioned earlier who is has been granted asylum at the Nicaraguan Embassy. But for all the things that you can say about him, a lot of people felt like things were moving and they were making money during the his presidency.
The popular Friendly Nations Visa program actually came about during Martinelli administration. And Mulino’s association with this era has earned him some presumptive credibility as a leader capable of steering the country toward growth. There is a perception that he understands the vital role that expats and foreign investors play in Panama’s economy, from purchasing real estate to contributing to sectors like tourism and technology.
Actually, shortly after taking office President Mulino issued an executive decree ordering that the threshold for real estate investments under Panama’s Qualified Investor Visa will remain at $300k (it was set to increase to $500k). This is in sharp contrast to other countries, where the required investment thresholds for investor visas are trending upward. This bold move on the part of President Mulino keeps Panama on the map as more and more people around the world are looking at second residencies and even additional passports.
But there is also a sense that obtaining residency in Panama may not always remain as easy and inexpensive as it is today. For years now, Panama’s Retirement and Pensioner Visa (the famous “Pensionado Visa”) has offered a direct path to permanent residency for anyone with at least $1,000 USD monthly benefits from Social Security, Veterans Affairs, Canada Pension Plan or other retirement plans. Many people’s benefits continue to increase year-over-year based on cost-of-living adjustments—while the minimum threshold to qualify for Panama residency has so far remained unchanged.
You don’t have to be an immigration lawyer to see that more and more people are coming to Panama and pursuing residency. And anyone with a sense of supply-and-demand economics can imagine a scenario in which Panama eventually places heavier filters on who is able to obtain long-term residency here.
Accessible and Reliable Information
One more thing that I think has contributed to putting Panama on the map as a destination for retirement and relocation is the wealth of information now available online.
Let me tell you about it from our perspective.
Most potential clients used to contact us, basically say:
“I’m interested in Panama, could you talk with me about my residency options?”
But today, more and more of the inquiries say something like:
“I qualify for the _____ Visa. I have already collected most of the documents required to apply. So, I just want to fill in some gaps in my research. And how much does it cost?”
That’s because potential future Panama residents can now do extensive online research about relocating to Panama before they even visit Panama.
There are companies that will help you to explore options for residency—or even a second citizenship—in Panama and other countries around the world. There are companies available to help you import your pet. You can tune into an endless inventory of expat podcasts, blogs, message boards and YouTube channels. You can even ask ChatGPT to give you a nice digestible summary of report comparing Panama against Mexico, Portugal, and Spain based on cost of living, ease of obtaining residency and tax policy.
Some of the expat Facebook groups now have upwards of 30,000 members. So, potential future Panama residents can connect with other expats in all the different stages of their own Panama relocation journeys. Panama is more accessible than ever.
The Independent Lawyer isn’t a major content generator—but I like to think that the quality of the information we put out there has also played a small part in this democratization of information about how to successfully relocate to Panama.
Trends Among Those Pursuing Residency in Panama
In late 2024, International Living ranked Panamas as the #1 destination for retirement and relocation in their annual global retirement index. Panama’s Pensionado Visa is one of the most cost-effective residency visas that Panama offers—and it is arguably the best retirement visa in the world right now.
I mean, it is a great place to make the retirement move. And the Pensionado Visa offers a ton of discounts and tax breaks that are actually pretty attractive for someone living off of retirement income. So it is potentially a great place to make the retirement move.
But if you think Panama’s growth is ONLY about gringo retirees looking to enjoy their golden years on a fixed income from Social Security benefits—then think again. The demographics of individuals and families relocating to Panama are evolving in some pretty interesting ways.
Here are some key trends we see:
Younger, Working-Age Individuals are Relocating
Panama is now attracting a ton of younger, working-age people and young families.
Remote workers from Canada and the US love Panama’s modern infrastructure and the fact that Panama is not in some far off time zones—actually, Panama spends half the year on Central time zone and the other half of the year on EST.
And entrepreneurs like that we have a solid consumer class, a growing economy, no taxes on foreign-sourced income, and access to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The world has become interconnected to a point that people are able to relocate their families to Panama with confidence that they will be able to continue with their current careers—or find other interesting ways to make a living.
Finally, more and more working professionals and investors are obtaining Panama residency as a part of their strategy to separate themselves fiscally from other tax jurisdictions. I am not going into that in too much detail here—but needless to say, in 2025 people have more and more power to choose their own destiny and vote with their feet when it comes to taxation.
The Draw of the Countryside
Panama City has quite a few cool neighborhoods. But perhaps another impact of the world becoming more interconnected is the trend of more foreigners moving to the “the interior” of the country.
This could also be indicative of a shift in personal preferences and the idea of what constitutes a high quality of life in the post-Covid world. And areas around Coronado, Pedasi, Santa Catalina or Boquete may also offer for more affordable living opportunities than Panama City.
But we also see more people choosing areas like Chorrera, Penonome or Las Tablas to make their new home—towns we haven’t really thought of as major draws for people from the United States, Canada and Europe over the last several years. And again, these aren’t just older adults living off of their retirement savings.
But whatever the explanation, we see more of our clients choosing to live outside of Panama’s largest metropolitan areas.
“Plan B” Residency on the Rise
Not everyone moving to Panama is relocating full-time—at least not right away. Many see Panama as a second home or a retreat during colder months (“snowbirds”). Others start with residency in anticipation of retiring here down the line.
But these days, there is also a growing population of people are collecting second and third residencies in places like Panama as a type of insurance policy for the future. This is often referred to as a “Plan B residency”.
You have a bunch of companies that are helping their clients to explore options for obtaining legal residency through investment, tax residency and second citizenship in places Panama. The biggest of these companies is probably Henley and Partners, which has recently made several strategic hires in Panama.
This could be a fad, and the trend may be exaggerated for anyone who is following Nomad Capitalist and the like on social media. But prior to 2024, we didn’t really hear people talk much about “diversify their residency portfolio”.
It will be interesting to see if this has staying power during 2025.
More Informed Residency Applicants
This is trend that has a major effect on our day-to-day. More and more people now come to us already knowing exactly what they are looking for in Panama.
People can now start their research months before even visiting Panama. Clients now come to us because they heard about us on Facebook, saw an Instagram ad, or because somebody mentioned The Independent Lawyer on Reddit. Many would-be clients have already read our blog articles, so they already have an idea about how we think about things.
In a way, it can make things easier. But being flooded with information is not always a good thing for someone trying to decide whether and how to relocate to Panama. Makeing sense of contradicting information online can be exhausting. And we end up spending time on some initial calls trying to clear up misconceptions and incorrect information.
We also see more access to information as leading toward a bit more of a commoditization of legal services—at least as they relate to the residency process in Panama. And when it comes to commodities, the lowest price often wins the client. But this can also introduce a ton of risk to your residency process if the person or firm you choose is not well organized or lacks the experience and foresight to anticipate and mitigate potential issues that could throw a wrench in your process.
Buying Site Unseen
Also, interesting—a more educated pool of residency applicants has resulted in more people pursuing residency without having actually ever visited Panama beforehand. This is not not something we saw a lot of until the last year or so.
It is going to be interesting to see how it plays out. You can learn a lot from YouTube and connecting with other expats on Facebook—but there is a lot about moving to Panama that you can probably only appreciate after having spent some time here.
Some of these people will find their groove here. Others will likely join the numerous generations of expats who came, had an adventure for a couple of years, and then moved on. In any case, we recommend renting before you buy!
How We’re Evolving in 2025
Ok, so things are changing when it comes to Panama immigration. A lot of the people pursuing Panama residency are younger, working-age and focused on maximizing their earning potential while minimizing their taxes. They are armed with more information than ever before—yet some of them have never set foot in Panama.
So, here is how we at The Independent Lawyer are trying to navigate this evolving landscape during 2025.
Building the Team Strategically
We have been slammed over the last 6 months—and especially during the last couple of months. The initial temptation is to go hire a bunch of new folks to deal with the increased demand.
But when we started this little adventure, our goals was to avoid becoming a “big law firm”. And a lot of our clients tell us that they appreciate that they don’t feel that they are passed from one associate to another every time they need something.
So, instead of quickly scaling up the team, we are focused on steadily building out our core team at a deliberate and measured pace.
There is a lot of value in the core team of an enterprise like this one, and it is not a place where we want too much turn-over. The core team is where knowledge compounds over time, and turnover interrupts that compounding process.
So we are hiring very carefully. And when we make a misstep, we take steps to correct it quickly.
Investing in Processes, Rather than Automation of Customer Interface
I mentioned before that the increased access to information seems to be leading to a perceived commoditization of legal services. So, we feel the pressure to be able to provide substantive responses to inquiries and answer questions in real time—or our would-be clients may pursue answers elsewhere.
Meanwhile, everybody is excited about A.I. And in theory, A.I. has the potential to reduce overhead, allowing a firm to win the race to dirt-bottom pricing of a commodities market. But we don’t think automation is quite there yet. And we believe our clients still want to know that they are working with someone real—and somebody who cares.
So, we are working to increase efficiency and meet the growing demand by prioritizing the atomization of internal processes rather than automizing the interfacing with our clients.
Actually, we are leaning in to providing more value by offering greater assistance and guidance as our clients prepare the documents for their residency applications. This allows us to avoid surprises that can throw a wrench in the system once they are in Panama. And a rhythm of more frequent and consistent communication with our clients also allows us to keep their residency process top of mind, which helps us to avoid dropping the ball.
This is surely not the fastest way to scale a business—but it does allow us to grow while maintaining the personalized level of service our clients have come to expect from The Independent Lawyer.
Specialization
When you are growing a business, you tend to say “Yes” to a lot of things, because you don’t want to turn away business as long as you have the know-how. And you tend to get involved in projects that are interesting, but that may not fit very well into your day-to-day.
So, this year we are re-focusing on the things that we do best: RESIDENCY, REAL ESTATE and RELOCATION
Ok, so “relocation” often turns out to be kind of catch-all category. But the point is that we don’t want to be an all-purpose, big law firm—and we don’t want to expand our menu of services too broadly.
So, if a job doesn’t fit squarely into the “three R’s” referenced above, then we are probably going to refer the work to someone else. This allows us to allocate our attention toward the things that we do exceptionally well.
A Different Type of Content
These days, producing content has become the expectation. And in 2025, we are diversifying the way we produce content—making it more accessible for our audience and easier to generate.
For example, writing these articles is sort of therapeutic. It allows us to think about things in a structured way, and over time it has given us an unfair advantage when it comes to explaining things in a way that makes sense for our clients. It also works to inform our clients about how we think about things, and it builds credibility even while we sleep.
But these articles also take a lot of time and focus to write. And many people today just aren’t going to sit and read long-form content like this. So, anyone who follows us on social media may have noticed that we have begun releasing a bit more reels and videos with a simpler, shorter message.
We are still going to write articles during 2025. But we will try to break more comprehensive topics into smaller parts that we can produce more quickly. And we are going focus less on scheduling types of content, and more on getting our voice out there consistently in a way that will be a bit more accessible.
Because at the end of the day, our aim is to make relocation to Panama as straightforward as possible for our growing audience.
Is Panama Your Next Move?
Panama is undeniably having “a moment”, and it appears that 2025 is going to be a pivotal year for its growing expat community.
Whether you’re drawn by the allure of a stable economy, a territorial tax system, or simply the chance to build a better life in a beautiful and accessible country—Panama offers a compelling case for those seeking residency or a fresh start. While the influx of newcomers may prompt whispers of “shhh…don’t tell everybody,” we believe that sharing this opportunity with others enriches the community and strengthens the bonds that make Panama so special.
But relocating internationally can be complex. At The Independent Lawyer, we are committed to providing guidance to our clients with a focus on personalized service, clear communication, and actionable advice to simplify the process for every client.
Whether you’re relocating full-time or pursuing a Plan B residency, we’re here to help you navigate the evolving landscape with confidence. So, if Panama is on your radar, let’s make it happen together—because there’s never been a better time to call Panama home.
