Before starting a Panama residency application, the question people ask most isn’t “do I qualify?” It’s “what is this actually going to cost me?” And the honest answer rarely fits in a single number. Between the investment itself, government fees, attorney fees, apostilles and the medical exam, the total shifts with the route you choose and with how many people you include in the application. That’s why we built a calculator that gives you an estimate in three steps, with every figure visible and without hiding what can’t yet be stated with confidence.
What this calculator does (and what it doesn’t)
You tell it your nationality, how many dependents you’re bringing, and which immigration route interests you. It returns a table with the minimum required investment, government fees, a range for legal fees, the cost of apostilles, translations and the medical exam, and an estimated total of everything you’d pay on top of the investment.
What it doesn’t do matters just as much: it doesn’t replace an attorney, it doesn’t calculate taxes, and it doesn’t guarantee that an amount in force today will stay the same tomorrow. It’s a budgeting tool, meant to help you arrive at your first legal consultation knowing what to ask.
How to use it in three steps
Step 1: your profile. Choose your nationality and enter how many dependents you have, separating those aged 12 or older from those under 12, because government fees differ. If your country is on Panama’s “friendly nations” list, the calculator flags it: you may also qualify for the Friendly Nations Visa.
Step 2: the route. You can compare six: Qualified Investor through real estate, securities or a fixed-term deposit; Friendly Nations; Forestry Investor; and Pensionado.
Step 3: your estimate. You see the full breakdown, a button to talk to an immigration attorney, and another to print or save the result. You can switch between English and Spanish without losing your data.
Where the numbers come from
The figures come from public sources reviewed in September 2026 and from the rules that govern them: Executive Decree 193 of October 2024 for the Qualified Investor category, and Executive Decree 226 of 2021 for Friendly Nations. The base values are:
- Qualified Investor: $300,000 in real estate, $500,000 in securities, or $750,000 in a five-year deposit.
- Friendly Nations: $200,000 in real estate or a deposit.
- Qualified Investor government fees: $10,000 for the main applicant, $2,000 per dependent aged 12 or older and $1,000 per younger dependent.
- Friendly Nations government fees: about $1,050 for the main applicant.
- Legal fees: $8,000 to $15,000 for Qualified Investor and $3,500 to $5,500 for Friendly Nations.
- Apostilles and translations ($400 to $800) plus the medical exam ($150 to $400).
Legal fees are shown as ranges, not fixed prices, because every law firm charges differently depending on case complexity.
Two worked examples
One applicant, Qualified Investor through real estate. Government fee of $10,000, plus $8,000 to $15,000 in legal fees, plus $550 to $1,200 for apostilles, translations and the exam. Estimated total, excluding the investment: between $18,550 and $26,200.
A family with two dependents aged 12 or older and one under 12. The government fee rises to $15,000 ($10,000 + $4,000 + $1,000), and the estimated total moves to between $23,550 and $31,200.
One applicant, Friendly Nations. About $1,050 in government fees, plus $3,500 to $5,500 in legal fees and $550 to $1,200 in extras: between $5,100 and $7,750, on top of the $200,000 investment.
What you’ll see as “N/A — check with a lawyer”
On two routes the calculator leaves some rows without a number, and that’s deliberate. For the Forestry Investor visa, public sources disagree on the minimum investment (figures from $40,000 up to $100,000 are cited), and we found no reliable government fees or legal fee range. For Pensionado there’s no capital investment, but we also didn’t find an official fee or a consistent legal fee range; it does show you the lifetime pension requirement of $1,000 a month, or $750 if you own Panamanian property worth more than $100,000.
We’d rather show you “N/A” than invent a number that sounds reasonable. An inflated or trimmed estimate can push you toward the wrong decision, and in an immigration process, mistakes are expensive.
The October 2026 change
If you choose real estate under Qualified Investor, you’ll see an alert: the $300,000 threshold is scheduled to rise to $500,000 starting October 15, 2026. The calculator uses the amount in force on the day you use it and switches automatically after that date. It’s worth being candid here: that threshold has moved in both directions in recent years, so confirm its status with your attorney before committing funds.
What the total leaves out
The estimated total excludes the investment itself, closing costs if you buy property, the long-term private health insurance that’s required, taxes in your home country, and any upkeep costs over the five years you must hold the investment. It also doesn’t cover the later citizenship process, which has its own costs.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work for any nationality? Yes. Nationality only triggers the Friendly Nations notice; fees depend on the route, not the passport.
Can I include my parents? Investor routes generally allow a spouse, dependent children under 25 who study full time, and dependent parents. Confirm with your attorney how each case is billed.
Is the result binding? No. It’s an informational estimate.
Use it as a starting point
Run the numbers, print the result and bring it to your legal consultation. Panama’s regulations have changed more than once in a few years, and an attorney licensed in Panama is the person who can confirm current amounts, timelines and requirements for your case. This content is informational, based on public information available as of September 2026, and is not legal or tax advice. contenido es informativo, se basa en información pública disponible a septiembre de 2026 y no constituye asesoría legal ni fiscal.
