Escape from the frustrations that accompany city center office locations! With easy access to Corridor Norte and the main arteries of the City, Camino de Cruces Business Center is the best choice for office space anywhere in Panama City. With local amenities like: restaurants, hotels, banks, travel agency, mail & printing service, office supply’s and ample parking, all within walking distance, doing business is easy. The buildings Spanish Colonial Architecture adds a warm comfortable ambiance, fresh breezes and ample open spaces you and your clients are sure to appreciate.

The offices range in size from 22 to 87 m2 and have flexible services you can customize to your needs. For example, you can decorate your office to your personal style, or opt for a pre furnished office space. You can connect to the centralized phone system, or put in your own private line; use the existing wireless Internet service, or drop-in a private cable. A shared conference room, break room and reception area are also available to all offices.

Camino de Cruces Business Center is not a run-of-the-mill office complex, they offer a economical yet customizable boutique office setting that is sure to help your company image by providing easy access and a comfortable yet professional environment to your clients. Location, Style, Comfort – everything you need to make your office a great destination!

Contact: 507-396-7847/48 * (507) 6930-1740 * i...@cdc-bizcenter.com * www.caminodecrucesbusinesscenter.com

For more useful information about moving yourself and your business to Panama contact one of our experts today.

A team of experts and specialist at The Panama Network is waiting to assist you in relocating your business to Panama. If you’re already here, we can also help you expand your business. We offer many of the services in house, including legal services, insurance, real estate brokers and an advertising and marketing agency.  If there is a service we can not offer in house, we will make sure you get the best provider and work with the provider to make sure all your needs are met to our extremely high standards.

Starting a business in a new country requires local contacts. Our experts are both business and politically connected and sit on several of the business associations boards, providing you an easier introduction into the Panamanian business world.

The following list will give you an idea of what services we can provide for you. If there is anything else you might require that is not on the list, do not hesitate to ask us.

Investors seeking opportunities in Panama

•    Real Estate – Commercial rentals or purchases
•    Legal services – Corporations and foundations, immigration visas, business law, vessel registration
•    Offshore bank accounts and bank introductions
•    Escrow service
•    Insurance – Specific coverage plans for your company’s needs
•    Business plan development and market incorporation
•    Marketing plans – Advertising campaigns, public relations, events and conventions, video production, Internet campaigns – including advertising options, SEO, website development, and hosting.
•    Human resources recruiting and selection
•    Auditing and accounting services
•    Customs brokers
•    Introduction to Panamanian Authorities and Business industry associations
•    Lobbying
•    Concierge Services
•    Image consulting

For more useful information about moving yourself or your business to Panama contact one of our experts today.

Government aims to achieve at least one billion dollars of foreign direct investment this year in five years.

Exchange. The companies covered by the Act 41 of August 24, 2007 receive tax benefits when they relocate in this country.

Companies United States, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Sweden and Norway are touching Panama’s door to implement investment plans in the country.

Proposals from all these companies are being analyzed by a team from the Ministry of Commerce (MICI), which seeks to maximize the benefits to Law 41 of August 24, 2007, which created the Special Regime for the Establishment and Operation of Multinational Companies Venues in the country. From the creation of this law until present, 23 companies have settled in the country to benefit from this initiative.

These 23 companies will soon be joined by General Electric (GE), the U.S. multinational, which has 330 thousand employees in the world and is planning to move from Costa Rica to Panama its regional corporate office for Central America and the Caribbean.

Among those that have already taken advantage of the benefits of law 41 include Maersk, AES, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, LG, Roche, Peugeot, Hyundai, Halliburton, Inelectra, Western Union, Total, Sinopec, Thunderbird, AIA Bermuda Services , Endress Hauser and Volconsa.

The MICI is working on reactivating the Center for Latin American Energy project in Colón to make this province a center for collecting, refining and transporting fuel.

How will this be done?

To achieve this level of foreign investment, MICI plans to create one-stop shop for investment, which will process the visas. Also streamline the procedures for visas renewals for investors, workers and managers of multinational companies.

A part of the diplomatic service, the Ministry has plans to hire staff as business aggregates established in major embassies where Panama has free trade treaties. Since as of present they were never properly served because the missions were overloaded with other priorities.

For more useful information about moving to Panama contact one of our experts today.

1.Panama Short Term Visas

Foreigners entering Panama, without having established their residency here will be able to request a Panama Short Stay Visa. The foreigner must justify the reason for staying, which has to be less than nine (9) months and will be non-extendable when the term is completed.

An investor must request this visa before entering the country. This visa has as an objective to give time for an investor to establish a branch of a foreign company in Panama.

The following 7 Panama Short Stay Visas are available under this program:

1.    PANAMA SHORT STAY FOR BUSINESS VISA
2.    PANAMA SHORT STAY TO VISIT RELATIVES VISA
3.    PANAMA SHORT STAY FOR INVESTIGATORS AND SCIENTISTS VISA
4.    PANAMA SHORT STAY FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT VISA
5.    PANAMA SHORT STAY AS MERCHANTS AND INVESTORS BY SPECIAL LAWS VISA
6.    PANAMA SHORT STAY FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS VISA
7.    PANAMA SHORT STAY FOR THE BANKING SECTOR

Please note: that each one of these visas has completely different requirements.

2. Foreign Personnel hired as Business Executives in Colon Free Zone

For foreigners who serve in executive, trust worthy positions, management or technical expertise in companies licensed to operate in the Colon Free Zone, with a salary of no less than two thousand balboas (B/.2, 000.00) per month.

3. Agricultural Investment in Panama

For foreigners who personally or through a legal figure (corporation), spent sixty thousand balboas (B/.60, 000.00) as a minimum amount in the agricultural industry or in aquaculture. These activities will be identified in areas that the Ministry of Agricultural Development considers of national interest.

4. Panama Reforestation Visa

Small Investment Visa
For foreigners to invest in a personal capacity or through a legal figure (corporation), the sum of sixty thousand dollars (B/.60, 000.00) in reforestation or plantation forestry, authorized by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM).

In case of a corporation, this permit may be requested by up to two foreigners, provided they demonstrate that each one made the investment of sixty thousand balboas (B/.60, 000.00) each.

Large Investment Visa
This Visa requires a minimum $80,000 invested, including a minimum purchase of five (5) hectares.  This is the only Panama Reforestation Visa leading to Permanent Residency and eventual Panama Citizenship. Two (2) years into the program, the applicant will be able to opt for permanent residence.

5. Panama Business Investor Visa

Foreigners wishing to invest in a macro-business, with a minimum share capital of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars (B/.160, 000.00) per applicant, which are shareholders and dignitaries from the same company, the omission of this requirement will result in the cancellation of the request and the obligation to leave the country. Requirements include obtaining a commercial business license, hiring 5 Panamanian employees paying their social security benefits and at least pay the minimum wage.

Visa requires three 2-year temporary resident visas before becoming permanent residents.

6. Panama Self Economic Solvency Visa

This visa offers international investors the opportunity to obtain legal residency, citizenship, and a passport. You can request this permit foreign invest the minimum amount of three hundred thousand dollars (B/.300, 000.00) in real estate or fixed term deposit or a combination of both and show that funds come from abroad. The applicant must invest an additional two thousand (B/.2, 000.00) for each dependent.

Please note: The titled Panama real property can either be in the personal name of the primary applicant or in the name of a Panama Private Interest Foundation; as long as the primary applicant is either the Founder or a Beneficiary (it may not be in the name of a Panama corporation or trust). In case of the CD it must be under the applicant’s name.

7. Investor’s Special Economic Area of Panama-Pacifico

Foreigners who undertake a foreign investment of not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars (B/.250.000.00) in venture capital businesses in the area of Panama-Pacific or development companies or operators may request this permit.

8. Panama Tax Free Processing Zone Investor Program

This visa allows for foreign investors to obtain Panama legal residency under the condition that they must rent a plot of land or an office or building (rented through a 10 to 20 year concession) within one of the tax free processing zones in Panama, for the purpose of operating a business from Panama that exports its products or services.

9. Investor in Food Processor for Export Zones

Foreigners must invested a sum not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars (B/.250, 000.00) from abroad, with a company duly authorized, as a property development company, promoter or operator of an export processing zone or businesses established within these areas according to Law 25 of 1992

Please note: Panama has several tax free processing zones, for more information on these areas, contact us.

10. Call Center for Commercial Use For Export Investor

For foreigners who want to invest in a company whose business is providing services to call centers for commercial use (call center) for export. As established in Executive Decree 97 of 2002, will be similar and should meet the same requirements for permanent residence in the export processing zones.

11. Investor of the Film and Audiovisual Industry

This permit can be requested by foreigners who invest in the Film Industry, an amount exceeding one hundred fifty thousand dollars (B/.150, 000.00).

If you are interested in applying for any of these visas and require more information and a lawyer to assist you with your application process, please contact: info@thepanamaclub.com

Recently, a large handmade sign was hung between two lamp posts outside of the New York Stock Exchange. Addressed to the money barons inside it read, ”Jump you Bastards!” To says that there is blood in the streets of NYC’s financial district is akin to saying that things looked a little bad in Tienanmen Square when the tanks rolled into the square.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. In the midst of their descent, these former wunderkinds of Wall Street have begun reexamining their love affair with a noisy, dirty, crowded, extraordinarily expensive city that rarely treats anyone well for very long. The big apple has more worms than a bait box, and many of its former devotees are heading south to, you guessed it, Panama!

Is our mounting wave of yuppy aged expats really a surprise? Panama’s is a new frontier rife with economic opportunity. Entrepreneurial opportunity is abundant in Panama. Savvy English-speaking professionals are in constant demand, and the international finance and banking industries provide real opportunities for Wall Street refugees.

You would think that leaving a place where stress levels are the only thing that’s higher than the cost of living would be easy. Even though a move to the affordable climes of sunny Panama would seem to be a no-brainer, many would be expats find it hard to make the move.

Americans have an anti- international move mentality that is unique among first world cultures. Europeans and Canadians think nothing of striking out around the globe in search of better weather and richer fortunes. Americans on the other hand, tend to stay close to home within their own borders.

Many expats report that family was their biggest obstacle. If this proves to be the case with you remember, the difference between a ride from New York to Panama, and one from New York to Miami, is less time than the hour required to take the train and cab from downtown to the airport.

For more information on living in Panama, click here.