business & economy

As last year's legislative session was winding down, the deputies granted President Torrijos the power to legislate about banking, tourism, customs and immigation by decree in the January and February National Assembly recess. Toward the end of that two-month window in time, after consulting with lawyers and airlines and the tourism industry and just about everyone other than the communities of foreign citizens resident in this country, Torrijos issued his new law on immigration, Decree Law 3 of February 22, 2008.

With some much criticized whizbangs like a requirement for all foreigners to maintain accounts in Panamanian banks that had appeared in earlier drafts excluded, the new immigration law decree included several new provisions that will affect the lives of foreigners living in Panama. However, it left most of the details --- including the possibility of reviving controversial provisions that had been excised --- to administrative regulations to be published later. 

The one thing that Law 3 most unmistakably purports to do is to create an immigration service with undefined civil service protection for its employees. In the context of how things have been observed to work here, this is reasonably to be interpreted as an attempt to make Torrijos administration political patronage appointees in the immigration bureaucracy permanent government workers. But there, again, we will have to see the regulations if we are to know to what extent this expectation is justified.

The new Servicio Nacional de Migracion (National Migration Service) will have all the powers that immigration authorities traditionally have had. It will be able to cancel visas of all sorts for cause, but even though the decree addresses requisites for becoming a naturalized citizen, it appears that those who have acquired citizenship by fraud won't be vulnerable to having that canceled under the new law.

There will be a nine-member Migration Consultative Council, led by someone appointed by the Minister of Government and Justice and including the director of the new National Migration Service and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Electoral Tribunal, the IPAT tourism bureau (which should mean the new tourism authority that's being created, but the Torrijos administration was never much for consistency in its legal drafting), and the National Security Council. The decree does not actually provide for what this council will do. It's the Minister of Government and Justice who actually will submit proposed policies to the executive branch.

Panamanian diplomatic missions will retain their functions of issuing non-resident visas and will also be able to issue temporary resident visas to students.

But the temporary resident visa is not just for students. It also includes "the foreigner who comes into the national territory for labor purposes, for special education,  culture, religious, humanitarian and family reunification policies and other subcategories." Temporary visas will last up to six years. The details of those could be huge or illusory, and will be provided by regulation. One issue of special importance to be seen is whether a person who is here for five years on such a visa will qualify to apply for Panamanian citizenship. Dependants can in general come in on these visas.

Permanent residents include those who come in as investors, but how much one will have to invest in what will be set by administrative regulations that will be reviewed every two years. People who get in under this category will have their visas reviewed after two years.

The law incorporates by reference the refugee treaties that Panama has signed, something that the old immigration system did not fully do.

There will be a 60-day time period in which applications for temporary or permanent residency must be resolved by the National Migration Service.

There are reporting requirements by which law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and courts must inform the National Migration Service of any investigation or formal criminal accusation or judicial proceeding involving a foreigner. By the plain wording of this any involvement of a foreigner in any civil or criminal case, whether as a defendant, a plaintiff, a victim of a crime, a witness or otherwise, will come to the attention of immigration authorities.

The biggest change in the law will be the creation of a Registro de Extranjeria. Every foreigner in Panama will have to register. The information contained in the registry will be confidential except in the cases of tax or criminal investigations. Any change in the information required by the registry --- exactly what these requirements are going to be is left to the administrative regulations, but one that is specified in the law is place of residence --- will obligate the foreigner to inform the registry within 30 days.

Non-residents will be able to get multiple entry visas, good for five years.

If you are a foreigner who happens to agree with Reverend Ian Paisley about the nature of Pope Benedict, you may have to keep your mouth shut while in Panama. All of the expected reasons for expulsion or deportation are in the new law, and you can be thrown for advocating crime or inciting racial, religious, cultural or political hatred. Maybe this will be interpreted to expel any foreigner who says unflattering things about the Torrijos administration as well. Once expelled from Panama, a foreigner can never come back.

A fugitive from US justice wanted for, say, serial rape, who evades arrest by American authorities and lives in a third country like Costa Rica for five years; or an axe murderer who gets out of prison in England and moves to the Bahamas for five years, will be able to apply for Panamanian residency or citizenship without his criminal activities in his country of origin being inquired into.

It's really not these sorts of criminals that the government desires, however. What the politicians here, including President Torrijos and most of his predecessors, really want are people who stole millions of dollars bringing themselves and that money to Panama. It used to be that there was also a rather open preference for drug lords, but due to US pressures this is no longer the case, at least not openly.

In the event that somebody is a fugitive from US justice for anything but tax law violations, if she or he has acquired citizenship there can be no deportation but otherwise Panama has extradited or expelled such persons on Washington's request. This is generally not a good place for Alabama child molesting suspects to establish residency.

See the Spanish-language original version of the new immigration law here, and an English translation here.