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Permanent Residence for Recognised Refugee or Asylee

PanamaHumanitarian protection

Explore the five recorded questions, answers and sources for this pathway.

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What exactly is this: asylum, temporary protection, humanitarian admission, resettlement or another protection mechanism?

Not an asylum procedure: Law 74 of 15 October 2013 lets refugees registered with the National Office for the Attention of Refugees and asylees recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apply for the permanent-resident immigration category.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • Source is an SNM press item (dated 24 October 2013) paraphrasing the law; the law text (Gaceta 27400-A) is a scanned PDF pending OCR.

Which population, circumstances or geographic group does the mechanism cover?

Refugees and asylees who have held that legal status for three years or more and state their intention to reside in Panama may apply on humanitarian grounds; the benefit does not extend to those who renounced refugee/asylee status, whose status ceased, who were excluded, or whose status was revoked.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • Source is an SNM press item (2013) paraphrasing the law; law text pending OCR.

Where can protection be requested, and is this a direct application, border/in-country request, referral or other process?

Eligible recognised refugees and asylees file the request for permanent-resident status in person or through a lawyer before the National Migration Service (Servicio Nacional de Migración, Ministry of Public Security), using a form supplied by that service at no cost.

See recorded sources

What happens after the request: registration, family handling, major support and rights where officially stated?

The applicant submits the resolution granting refugee (or asylee) status to them and to their dependants, authenticated by the National Office for Refugee Attention (or, for asylees, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), a copy of the current refugee/asylee card, a Panamanian criminal-record certificate and two photos. Qualifying applicants are exempt from the change-of-status costs and the repatriation deposit. Those who obtain permanent residence under the law may obtain a work permit for an indefinite period. Status and benefits can be annulled or revoked if refugee-recognition facts were deliberately false, if the person holds another nationality offering protection, or if exclusion-clause activities were concealed.

See recorded sources
Limits of the record
  • The law does not describe processing steps, time limits or registration after filing.
  • OCR splits the list of Art. 5 documents out of order; items cited only where legible.
  • No support/assistance measures are stated for this residence procedure.

Which competent authority, UN body or official assistance channel should the person use?

The checked official sources did not provide enough route-specific evidence to confirm the competent authority or official help channel.

These are the answers currently recorded in the catalogue. A missing or partial answer is not an eligibility decision.

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