Rumors have been flying around lately that the 30-day tourist visa restriction has been rescinded and U.S. citizens now can stay in Panama for 90-days as tourists. I received a phone call earlier this week from a client (a U.S. Citizen) who entered Panama last week on a flight from the U.S. and was told by immigrations at the Tocumen airport that he could stay in the country for 90-days. I’ve also received emails from clients who had been to the immigrations office in Panama City to extend their tourist visa and were told that they didn’t need to extend the visa since they had 90-days on their existing tourist card.

So, what’s the real story? Well, it depends who you talk to.

I went to David this morning to get the official word from the local immigrations office. According to the head of immigrations in David, the 30-day tourist visa restriction is still in place for U.S. citizens and there has been no notice given to them of any change.

Well, that seems pretty clear.

But that’s not the entire story. Prima Panama’s office in Panama City did some calling around and found out that a local attorney with a client from the U.S. had received a letter from the head of immigrations at Tocumen International Airport stating that U.S. citizens now have 90-days on their tourist visa. I’ve attached a pdf file of the original letter (in Spanish) to this post.

For those of you who don’t speak Spanish, here’s a translation of the letter:

Department of Immigration and Naturalization

Panama, 20 December 2007

I take this opportunity to wish you success in your delicate functions.

The reason for this letter is to inform you that the period as a tourist for United States citizens is 90 days, for which we ask forgiveness for the fact that your client United States citizen __________, with passport __________ was stamped for 30 days and we herby guarantee that said citizen will have no problem the day of the 21 of December when he leaves the country.

Sincerely yours,

Florentino Jean Francois

Head of Immigration Tocumen

The blank spaces are where the information for this specific person was contained.

It seems clear from this letter that, at least as far as the immigrations office at Tocumen is concerned, U.S. citizens can now stay in Panama for 90-days.

This is great news since the 30-day tourist visa restriction has caused a lot of problems, confusion and uncertainty among U.S. citizens considering a visit or vacation home in Panama.

Source: http://primapanama.blogs.com/