Panama Digital Nomad Visa Cost Breakdown 2026

The all-in cost to get Panama’s Short‑Stay Visa for Remote Workers sits between US$800 and US$1,500 — before you factor in health insurance and the apostille on your background check. Those two costs depend on where you’re from and which policy you buy, and nobody publishes a single number for either. Here’s the breakdown.

What you’re really paying for

Government fee

There isn’t one. Not a single, machine‑readable fee schedule on the National Migration Service (SNM) site lists the cost of the Short‑Stay Visa for Remote Workers. The page confirms the category exists — it’s under “Permisos Migratorios” as “Personal Extranjero Remunerado desde el Exterior” — but it publishes no price.

Every secondary source we checked quotes a government fee of around US$300. That figure comes from InternationalRE, and it’s the only number we have. Until Panama’s migration service puts a fee table online, US$300 is the best estimate.

Attorney fee

You can apply on your own, but most people hire a lawyer. InternationalRE puts the range at US$500 to US$1,200. That covers document preparation, submission, and dealing with the SNM. The higher end usually includes a more hands‑on service. If you’re comfortable with Spanish and local bureaucracy, you might skip this cost entirely.

Health insurance

The visa requires health insurance that covers you in Panama. InternationalRE confirms it. What it doesn’t confirm — and what no source in our research pack confirms — is how much you’ll pay. No editorial guide, official page, or forum post we found gives a monthly premium range. Expect this to add a few hundred dollars to your monthly living costs, but the exact figure depends on your age, coverage level, and provider. We couldn’t pin it down.

Apostille

Your criminal background check must be apostilled. InternationalRE says so. The cost of an apostille varies wildly by country: a few dozen dollars in some places, over a hundred in others. No source in our pack breaks that down for Panama‑bound applicants. You’ll need to check your home country’s fee schedule.

Partner costs

If you’re bringing a partner, the visa doesn’t treat them as a dependent. Settleradar reports they must qualify on their own — meaning they need the same US$3,000/month income from foreign sources and go through the same application process. Double the government fee, double the attorney fee, double the apostille. That pushes your household cost to US$1,600 – 3,000 before insurance.

What the top results miss

Every guide we read repeats the same approximate government fee and attorney range, but three things are consistently absent:

1. An official fee schedule from the SNM. The website lists the visa category but no price.
2. A concrete apostille cost. No guide gives a number, and none link to an official apostille fee page for common applicant countries.
3. Health insurance premium ranges. Required, yes. Priced, no.

We also found a conflict in the executive decree that created the visa. Legalys cites Executive Decree No. 198 (May 7, 2021). SettledNomad cites Executive Decree 722 of 2021. Two different numbers. It doesn’t change the cost, but it’s a reminder that even the basic facts around this visa are still settling.

The number you came for

Excluding health insurance and the apostille, the application will cost you US$800 – 1,500. That’s the government fee plus a lawyer, assuming you go that route.

If we had to guesstimate the missing pieces, insurance might add another US$200 – 1,000 a year depending on your age, and the apostille could be US$20 – 200. That pushes the all‑in range to somewhere between US$1,000 and US$2,500. But that’s a finger in the air — the real number could be lower or higher. Until the SNM publishes a fee schedule and someone tests a few insurance policies, the safe move is to budget US$1,500 for the application and keep a cushion for the rest.