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Jobs in Panama

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DavidR777
  5/23/2016 15:30 EST

What kinds of jobs are there in Panama for an expat? I have teaching experience and I'm almost finished with my TESOL courses. I have read in this forum that teaching doesn't pay a lot. What else could a person do on the side? Any suggestions?

RICOBREEZE802MARK
  5/23/2016 22:23 EST

very few. they really don't want to hire you and in many cases they can't. besides you can't live here on a teachers pay anyway, and if you did find a job you couldn't do both. it really comes down to your skill set.

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tombseekers
  5/24/2016 13:47 EST

You will need to apply for a work permit and then try but don't be surprised if there are no ESL jobs as many Panamanians speak English. Your best bet is to get hired by a US based company for wages more than $25 day.

FredfromArkansas
  5/24/2016 14:29 EST

First, let me say I have not made the move tp Panama. I am still planning a move there, but I am waiting to retire first. From all the research I have done, there are too many down sides to moving to Panama and working there. First, you probably can't get the visa that allows you to work anyway. Even doctors and dentists can't. They are protecting the jobs for Panamanians. Secondly, the wages are terrible. The average Panamanian makes about $600 a month. You would probably have a better lifestyle working at McDonalds in the US.

Panama has a lot of good things going for it, but the option to work there is definitely not one of them. Unless you are working remotely for a US employer or have your own business, stay where you are.

Oldcameraman
  5/24/2016 14:47 EST

tombseeker: Not sure where you live, but in the Coronado -> Rio Hato corridor the number of Panamanians who speak English at a functional level is likely less than 0.1 %

tombseekers
  5/25/2016 16:41 EST

PC, Boquete and David have several English schools and positions are filled by Panamanians. I'm going out on a limb here but I imagine in the interior, the desire to speak English isn't as great and the number of positions for this would be very small

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StanleySankey
  6/2/2016 20:12 EST

Not to rain on your parade but unless you have a ready source of income in place BEFORE you come to Panama you are looking at a very hard road.
As a few other posters have noted jobs you are likely to find are low pay in the $500 per month range. Professions like lawyers, doctors, engineers that would pay reasonably are closed to Panamanian citizens only. If you don't have a pension income now, I would suggest that you look at creating something that you can do online and get that up and running before you come down permanent.

expatdude
  6/8/2016 21:15 EST

What are you guys talking about! Some of you are clueless.

With the right lawyer you can do your residency as an investor and obtain a work permit, there's always a way to do things here.

While the average Panamanian selling fruits on the side of the road makes $600 a month, there are plenty of professional jobs available in many fields that pay quite well, especially in the management, finance, web design, architecture, project and building Management and of course banking. When I mean well, I mean better than the US well.

The work ethic is brutal here, even in professional jobs, foreigners (especially US, Canadians and Europeans) are, unfortunately for the local folks who don't have connections, offered the better jobs with great pay.

If you look you shall find, and focus on the local or non US companies, they pay better.

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