Panama qualified investor property: sell inside five years and you must reinvest within a set window

Selling the property before five years are up does not end the residence on the spot: it starts a 30-day deadline to tell the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, then up to 90 days to prove an equal investment in its place, or the residence is cancelled. Plan the replacement before you buy.

Selling in year two or three needs a second investment lined up, not only a buyer. Executive Decree 17 of 2026 makes the 90-day window a fixed limit.

Each year, too, your legal representative must show the ministry the investment is still yours, in the 30 days before the anniversary of your residence decision.

What the figure counts

Only your own money from abroad counts: it must arrive by international transfer, and gifts are not recognised. The decree values the property at the lower of what you paid and its market value, minus anything still owed on a mortgage. A loan can finance only the part of the price above the minimum. The figure above is for a new, never-occupied property bought first-hand from its developer; one already sold, occupied or let needs a higher minimum. The ministry may order an independent valuation, at your cost.

Buying off-plan works through a trust deposit with a licensed bank or trust company, or full payment to the developer backed by a bank guarantee renewed yearly. Residence resting only on purchase promises cannot last beyond three years in total.

If you invested or signed a binding purchase before the decree, the earlier rules apply only if you file within six months of it taking effect.

Who receives what

To the state: two payments, both handed in with the application. The government fee shown above is the application charge to the National Treasury. An equal sum goes to the National Migration Service as what the decree calls a repatriation deposit; it is not a fee, and the decree does not say whether or when it is returned. Each dependant adds a smaller pair of the same payments.

To others: the lawyer's fee for the filing and yearly proof, any valuation, and any commission inside the price.

Questions for the developer or lawyer:

1. Is the unit new and sold first-hand, as the Public Registry certificate will need to show?
2. After any mortgage, does what you own outright still reach the figure above?
3. If you sell early, what would replace the property within 90 days?
4. Who files the yearly proof, and is that fee in the quote?
5. If the application is refused, or the rules change before it is decided, what happens to the lawyer's fee, the repatriation deposit and money already paid to the developer?

A developer's sale offer, a purchase promise or a lawyer's fee quote can go through the box above: answer yes at its top, and it is read line by line against the published rules and the prices firms on file publish for this route. Nothing signed yet? Answer no and enter the purchase price you have in mind. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to a qualified immigration lawyer.

General information, not legal advice.