Driving licence in Panama: ninety days as a tourist, then exchanging for B/. 40

May you drive in Panama with your Dutch licence? As a tourist yes, for at most ninety days: article 110 of the traffic regulation says that foreigners entering as tourists cannot obtain a Panamanian licence and may only drive with their own valid licence, for that period. Anyone with a residence permit falls under article 111 and drives only with a permission from the Autoridad del Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre, after presenting their licence and a certification of it. The finding at the source is that the exchange has no exam and costs B/. 40, including the eye and hearing test. The pitfall is the certification of your Dutch licence: you arrange that with an apostille in the Netherlands or through an embassy, and you had better do that before you leave.

What does it cost, and what do you bring?

Element	What the source says
Cost	B/. 40 in cash at the ATTT desk in a SERTRACEN office, including eye and hearing test
Categories	only A, B, C and D; no public transport or heavy machinery
Migration card	original and copy, valid
Dutch licence	original and copy, valid
Certification of the licence	through the issuing authority with apostille, through the embassy or through a double legalisation
Blood group	test by a laboratory recognised by the ATTT, unless the blood group is on your licence
Debt at the ATTT	you must be paz y salvo
Without a licence	driving school certificate, theory and practical exam, own car for the test, B/. 40

How do you have your licence certified?

The ATTT accepts three routes, and all three end with an authentication of the signature at the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first route runs through the embassy or consulate of the country that issued the licence: a statement with the word certifica, the name of the consul, your name and passport number, the number and expiry date of your licence, the country of issue and the categories, with a certified copy of both sides. The second route runs through the issuing authority in the country of origin, with an apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there; the Netherlands is a party to the apostille convention, so that road is open. The third route is the double legalisation without apostille, through the Panamanian consulate and the Panamanian Cancillería.

Arrange the certification before departure. The apostille route asks for a statement from the authority that issued your licence and an apostille in the Netherlands, and that is cumbersome from Panama. Request them in the weeks before your flight, together with your other apostilles, and bring the original. Anyone who only discovers this after the ninety days is meanwhile driving without a valid licence.

Your migration card must also be valid on the day of the application, and the blood group test comes from a laboratory the ATTT recognises, with your passport number, a stamp and a fresh signature of the doctor. If your blood group is on your licence, that step is dropped.

What if you have temporary residence?

For anyone with temporary residence there is a separate procedure with the same cost and the same eye and hearing test. The certification then runs through the embassy or consulate of the country of issue, with the same requirements for the statement, and here too no public transport or heavy machinery. A pensionado has permanent residence and follows the ordinary route.

What if you have no licence?

Then you start at a driving school recognised by the ATTT, which issues a certificate of theory and practice, and you take the eye, hearing, theory and practical tests at SERTRACEN, with your own suitable car for the practical test. That also costs B/. 40 in cash, and here too a valid passport and a valid migration card are required.

And after that?

Every motor vehicle in Panama goes through an annual inspection by the ATTT or a recognised station, and the municipal plate comes back every year. Anyone taking their own car reads first taking your car to Panama; the order of card, bank and licence in the first weeks is in registration and numbers in Panama and in the step-by-step plan for Panama.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Panama or look inside the open plan first.