Over the last several months, we’ve been asked again and again about a rumor that has been circulating about the Panama Qualified Investor Visa (QIV).
The rumor was that the minimum real estate investment was set to increase from US$300,000 to US$500,000 in October 2026.
The thing is, that is not actually what the most recent legislation said. . . until now.
Panama just published Executive Decree No. 17 (2026) in the Gaceta Oficial, which substantially rewrites the regulations governing the Panama Qualified Investor Visa. The new decree takes effect immediately upon publication.
So, yes, the rules have changed.
But interestingly, the rumors still weren’t quite right.
The QIV Isn’t Simply Increasing From US$300,000 to US$500,000
This literally just came out today. We’ve given it a cursory review, but there is a lot to read through and unpack. So, for now we’ll focus on what appear to be some of the biggest takeaway from the new executive decree.
Under the new rules, the minimum QIV real estate investment depends on what kind of property you’re buying.
For what the decree calls an “inmueble de primera venta“—essentially a new or first-sale property—the minimum investment remains US$300,000.
Meanwhile, a purchase in the secondary market now requires an investment of at least US$500,000.
So, this isn’t simply:
US$300,000 → US$500,000
Instead, it looks more like this:
New / first-sale real estate → US$300,000
Secondary-market / re-sale real estate → US$500,000
And that’s a pretty significant distinction.
The decree generally defines a secondary-market property as one that has previously been commercialized, occupied, rented, or transferred to an unrelated third party. Meanwhile, the US$300,000 category is intended to capture the initial commercial sale of new inventory.
What About Pre-Construction Property?
The new decree also specifically addresses pre-construction real estate.
And here, the minimum remains US$300,000.
The new decree repeats some of the provisions from the previous rules about how these transactions should be structured and documented.
For example, the decree contemplates qualifying funds being placed into a trust with a Panamanian bank and released according to the construction schedule. It also provides an alternative involving payment of 100% of the purchase price to the developer, subject to specified guarantee requirements.
We’ll need to do a more precise comparison of these provisions of Executive Decree No. 17 (2026) vs. the language in the previous Executive Decree 193 (2024) to look for more subtle differences. But at first blush, this looks good for Panama real estate developers.
The Other QIV Investment Options
Real estate isn’t the only way to qualify for the Qualified Investor Visa.
The new decree maintains an investment threshold of US$500,000 for qualifying securities investments through Panama’s securities market.
For a qualifying fixed-term deposit with a Panamanian bank, the general threshold is maintained at US$750,000.
But there is an interesting new exception: the minimum is reduced to US$500,000 when the fixed-term deposit is made directly and exclusively with Panama’s two state-owned banks—Banco Nacional de Panamá or Caja de Ahorros. And this is good news for some clients who have recently expressed a preference for working with government-backed banks in Panama.
There Is More Going On Here Than Just New Investment Thresholds
This is actually a fairly substantial rewrite of the Qualified Investor regulations. The decree appears to give Panama’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI) a much more detailed framework than previous legislation for verifying the value of the investment, the actual payments made, and the source and traceability of the funds.
It also reinforces the requirement that the qualifying investment be maintained for five years following the resolution granting permanent residency, with annual documentation submitted to MICI demonstrating continued compliance.
We’ll need to unpack these details over the next few days.
But for anyone currently considering a real estate investment for the QIV, the immediate question is probably much simpler:
What happens if I’ve already invested or started my application?
What About Existing and Pending QIV Applications?
Here, the new decree provides some important protection.
If your investment certification request had already been submitted to MICI, or your residency application had already been submitted to Panama’s immigration office, before the new decree took effect, Article 19 says the application will continue under the requirements, conditions, and investment amounts that were in effect when it was submitted.
In other words, pending applications are expressly grandfathered. We specifically hunted for this language, because we are working with clients whose investments are awaiting certification from MICI so that they can proceed with the application at Immigration.
And the decree goes one step further.
If you had already made the qualifying investment before the new rules took effect, but had not yet submitted the application, Article 19 provides a transitional period of six months from today to proceed under the previous regime, provided MICI can verify that the investment was actually made before the new decree became effective and otherwise satisfied the applicable requirements.
That’s going to be extremely important for people who have recently closed—or are already deep into a transaction—based on the previous US$300,000 threshold.
So, What Happened to the October 2026 Increase?
This is where the story gets kind of interesting.
When Panama originally created the Qualified Investor program in 2020, the regulations contemplated a US$500,000 real estate investment. But those initial regulations established a temporary US$300,000 threshold that was to expire in October 2022.
But in October 2022, then-president Nito Cortizo signed an executive decree extending the US$300,000 threshold for two more years, with a new expiration date in October 2024.
And then, in October 2024, President José Raúl Mulino issued another executive decree. But this one was worded very differently. Rather than simply extending the temporary period again for two more years, it amended the language of the regulation itself to establish the US$300,000 threshold.
This has been the source of all the speculation over the last several months. Many people have anticipated an adjustment of the minimum investment threshold to US$500,000 in October 2026. But unlike previous decrees, the language of Executive Decree 193 (2024) did not specifically indicate that an adjustment was coming.
Could the government issue another decree and change the rules? Absolutely.
Was there a tangible legal basis to say for sure? Not really.
But now we know.
The government didn’t wait until October. And it didn’t simply restore the original US$500,000 threshold.
Instead, it issued an entirely new regulatory framework that keeps the US$300,000 threshold for qualifying new and pre-construction properties while increasing the threshold to US$500,000 for secondary-market real estate.
Sometimes immigration law changes quickly. And not always in the ways that can be easily anticipated.
Bottom Line?
As of September 16, 2026, Panama has new rules governing the Qualified Investor Visa.
For real estate investors, the headline is pretty straightforward:
New / first-sale property: US$300,000
Qualifying pre-construction property: US$300,000
Secondary-market / resale property: US$500,000
But there are plenty of details underneath those headlines, including new parameters around valuation, financing, source of funds, documentation, and maintaining the qualifying investment. Lots to unpack over the next few days.
Anyway, if you already made your investment or submitted your application before September 16, don’t panic. The decree contains important transitional provisions that may allow you to proceed under the rules that were in effect before today’s change.
A lot of people will be digging deeper into the new rules over the coming days. But for now, if you are considering purchasing real estate specifically to qualify for Panama’s Qualified Investor Visa, make sure you’re working from the rules that became effective today—not the rules that were in place yesterday.
