r/panamaexpats

Hello! I'm looking to move to Panama in the future and visited for the first time in 2025. I loved the food, people, and the places I went to. I know I was a tourist at the time but I was stared at a lot - not in a condescending way but a very intrigued way. It went beyond, "Oh, there's a tourist. I wonder where they're from". I'm black american with a tanned/caramel complexion with red, yellow, and orange undertones. I had my my hair in a slicked textured bun, sunglasses, hat, and water bottle. I noticed that some Panamians approached me in Spanish and others in English.

Out of all the countries I've been to, I never experienced this before at this level. It was men and women and don't remember kids doing this. I do speak a decent level of Spanish and am sure I have "American" mannerisms. I am well aware that Panama has a strong afro-descendant population. I do have native ancestry as well. Would love to hear from Panamians what's their thoughts on this.

Ahorita… 😅

Is there a bank in Panama that offers a fully English mobile banking app?
Banco General seems to be Spanish-only. I’d love to hear what other expats are using.

Hi everyone! My partner and I are traveling to Panama City for a few days and need reliable childcare for our daughter (1.5 years old) while we attend some daytime commitments.

What we’re looking for:

** **A licensed/reputable nanny or babysitting agency (not an individual freelancer) ideally one that vets and background-checks their caregivers
** **Care for 3 days, roughly 4 hours
** **Caregivers experienced with toddlers, comfortable with nap schedules and basic feeding routines
** **Bilingual (English/Spanish) is a plus but not required

If you’ve used an agency in Panama City you’d personally recommend, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. Thank you!

Not that I plan on availing myself of the services (married), but this is always a curiosity, and some discussions I've had with other newcomers have led me to want to ask you guys this.

What is the dating situation like for immigrants (from primarily North America) in Panamá? Answer it from your perspective, if you are currently in the dating pool or trying to date. Easy, or difficult?

What challenges do you face, up to an including the language gap? Break down what some of the challenges might be depending on whether you're a man or woman?

What would you tell someone just arriving to make the experience easier for everybody? What red light warnings would you give foreigners going in?

This ought to be fun.

What are some of the things that are either more expensive or much lower quality than in the states. I'm trying to calculate what to load on my one little pallet. Some things I can't do without my big SS juicer and nutrabullet. What about tools and my solar panel, charge controllers set up? Thanks in advance!

Layover in Panama city for 10 hours. Any suggestions how to plan visiting the Panama city center? What about the time required to check in and again go through customs? How to plan this short trip? Many thanks!

Hello I'm a young (58) widower. I'm still working full time remotely. I would love to meet some widow of my age and have a drink in the Coronado area. I speak French, English and a little bit of spanish. Dm me. Thanks

TL;DR: for the purposes of this subreddit, we use Expat, as that's the popular name from the primary countries people come from to read here. But we ALSO use Immigrant, because that's correct. And we also use Newcomer, because that's okay too. One word over the other is only weird if you make it weird.

In this sub, it's our position that the terms Expat, Immigrant, and Newcomer are all the same thing. No hidden loaded meaning, no cheerleading either above the other--you know what we mean.

If you come in <<gatekeeping>> the word, or attack others here for using one you don't prefer, look in another sub to participate: you posts will get removed, and you'll likely catch a ban if you keep it up.

Whatever you feel about immigration into Panamá, keep your words and behaviors respectful--there are human beings here who are just trying to live their best lives, just like folks in country already. The End.

---

En resumen: para los fines de este subreddit, usamos «expat», ya que es el nombre más común en los principales países de donde proviene la gente que lee aquí. Pero TAMBIÉN usamos «inmigrante», porque es lo correcto. Y también usamos «recién llegado», porque también está bien. Que una palabra prevalezca sobre otra solo es raro si tú lo haces parecer raro.

En este sub, nuestra postura es que los términos «Expat», «Inmigrante» y «Recién llegado» significan todos lo mismo. Sin significados ocultos ni sesgados, sin favorecer a uno sobre otro...ya sabes a qué nos referimos.

Si vienes a «controlar» el uso de la palabra o a atacar a otros aquí por usar una que no te gusta, busca otro subreddit para participar: tus publicaciones serán eliminadas y probablemente te baneen si sigues así.

Sea cual sea tu opinión sobre la inmigración en Panamá, mantén un tono y un comportamiento respetuosos: aquí hay seres humanos que solo están tratando de vivir lo mejor posible, igual que la gente que ya está en el país. Fin.

I have a temp visa in Panama. I am a US citizen and I need to make an annual payment to my lawyer via the Banco General "third party transfer." The website is saying the transfer service is unavailable and I am currently in US trying to avoid a 7/15 late penalty. What are alternate paths? I can't get any contact details or progress with English speaking reps, making this experience a bit challenging.

I'm working on the friendly nations visa with the CD option.

To do that I have to go to Panama open the CD account and then transfer 200k into it from the US. The transfer seems to be the hardest part. Wise doesn't work in my state, fidelity needs a form with the Panama account number, ally doesn't allow any international transfers and bank of America won't give me clear instructions.

Also most transfers take 4 days and Ill just be waiting in Panama for the money.

Does anyone have experience with this process and can offer some tips?

Let's assume all of the legal stuff and identification has been sorted, up to and including the carné /e-cédula. What do you consider the next step that you should bang out, right then and there? Did you in fact do that, or are you learning by experience, and didn't do it, to your disappointment? Let's hear the stories.

Miércoles is Spanish for Wednesday, so here we are, one in a series of weekly posts. If you don't feel like making a whole post, throw your question/comment in here, and see it it gets traction.

• Any subject goes
• Follow the subreddit and Reddit general rules
• Still no ads or promotions--those belong in the Expat Services Saturday weekly thread.

Let's try this out and see if it works...

Everyone talks about Boquete, El Valle, Coronado or Panama City. What’s one place you think more people should seriously consider, and why?

Note, these are the major ones: you may have specialty stores that you visit as well, and we'll have a separate poll for those another time. Or, you can mention them if you wish under the "other" category. Do the poll, and feel free to comment in the comments of this post.

Don't forget to talk about why you go there, if you go to more than one, and you've mentioned the main one you go to, talk about your secondary one, and tell us exactly why you like the super that you visit. Talk about the clientele that you perceive are mainly attracted to that supermarket, opine about the ease or difficulty of the shopping experience there, or anything you want to talk about.

View Poll

Just a general discussion about what your friends group mix looks like, as a non-Panamanian immigrated to, and living in Panamá.

Do you have mostly expats/immigrant friends? Predominantly local people, or at least from nearby Central/South American nations? Or do you occupy the end seat at the fonda, staring at your proteins alone?

If you have plenty of friends, what is your secret at creating and maintaining your friends group? If you don't have any Panamanian or Latin America friends, is there a particular reason you can share?

If you're local, do you go out of your way to make friends with newcomers? Why or why not?