Panama Forum

panamajames
Joined 2012
Posts: 5096

8 years ago

New Rules at Immigration

8 years ago

This is from a fellow by the name of Mark, who had this warning to newbies:

"My wife and I ran into an unforeseen and frustrating change in the immigration process this week, during a trip to Panama City to get our permanent visas (Friendly Nation). At the Immigration office, we did the time-consuming wait in line/get a ticket/wait for number to be called process. When we were finally called to the designated window, the clerk asked where our attorney is. She said our attorney must be present for us to proceed. After going a few rounds with phone calls to our attorney (in David) and our attorney calling the Immigration supervisor, we discovered that this new requirement had been put in place TWO DAYS BEFORE (March 7th), apparently without notifying the attorneys around the country.

When our attorney told the Immigration Supervisor that the attorneys in David did not know about this change, he asked if she could help “spread the word.” What a great solution.

With a trip to Panama City costing several hundred dollars (airfare, hotel, meals, taxis, etc.), we were not happy about this abrupt and significant rule change. Fortunately, our attorney figured out a solution where she sent a Power of Attorney to a “helper” (not an attorney) in Panama City the next morning, via Air Panama. We went back to Immigration the next day, to start the process over again. The helper met us at Immigration, was able to get us past the “attorney must be present” hurdle (after more haggling) and we were able to complete the process.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING to make the trip to Panama City to do anything at the Immigration office, be sure your attorney checks to see what requirements are currently in place regarding your representation. I don’t know which transactions have this requirement, whether you can use a different attorney than the one on your paperwork, etc. Be sure you know before you go. Don’t find out the hard way. Mark"

via [email protected]

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