For pensioners
Retiring to Panama
Panama is built on pensioners: the pensionado visa gives permanent residence from day one on a lifelong pension of US$ 1,000 a month, and the discounts of Law 6 of 1987 are legally enforceable. But 'tax-free' is the wrong half of the story, and healthcare has an age limit you have to know before every irreversible step.
The sum first. Panama does not tax foreign income — that is correct. But the 2010 treaty gives the Netherlands the right to tax your AOW and your pension, so the Dutch wage tax simply continues. The AOW itself does travel along in full: the 2004 export treaty leaves the single-person rate intact as well. And the protective assessment travels along.
Then healthcare, and here it comes before the house. There is no CAK route and no compulsory state healthcare: you insure fully privately, and the insurers apply entry limits — locally up to about 65, internationally up to about 74. Anyone who does not have acceptance sorted should not sign. The pensionado discounts do lower the healthcare bill afterwards: 20% on medicines and consultations.
The route itself runs through a legally required lawyer, and the order after that is cédula → bank → driving licence: a bank account only works after your residence permit. With a home you watch one thing above all: titled property with a finca number, because a possession right without title is something no bank will finance.
Still deciding between countries? To the pension comparer
The pensionado route and what it yields
The residence routes to Panama: pensionado, the dead Friendly Nations myth and the order that works
The pensionado visa gives permanent residence from day one with a lifelong pension of US$ 1,000 a month — via a legally required lawyer. The Friendly Nations visa still exists, but not in the form the internet promises. The routes, the documents, and the order cédula → bank → driving licence.
Updated 30 August 2026
Panama's pensionado discounts: law, not marketing — with the conditions attached
25% on air tickets and restaurants, 50% on hotels from Monday to Thursday, 25% on electricity, telephone and water, 20% on medicines and doctor's consultations: the discounts of Law 6 of 1987 are legally enforceable. But every discount has conditions that the lists online leave out — and two percentages doing the rounds are out of date.
Updated 31 August 2026
Living, renting and buying in Panama: first the finca number, then the rest
In Panama two completely different things are sold as property, and the difference costs foreigners money: titled property with a finca number, or a possessory right without title that no bank will finance. Plus the rents per region, the bank account that only works after your residence permit, and the euro-dollar risk that affects your income.
Updated 31 August 2026
Your pet to Panama: ten days of paperwork, forty days of home quarantine
Panama requires a health certificate with an official government endorsement issued within ten days before arrival — a tight window in your busiest week — and after that forty days of home quarantine, registered in advance. No kennel, but an obligation with a form. The calendar in a row.
Updated 31 August 2026
Your money: why 'tax-free' is half the truth
AOW, pension and tax in Panama: why 'tax-free' is the wrong half of the story
Panama doesn't tax foreign income — that's correct. But the treaty of 2010 gives the Netherlands the right to tax your AOW (the Dutch state pension) and your pension, so the wage-tax withholding simply carries on. The AOW itself does come along in full: the export treaty of 2004 keeps the single person's rate too. The real sum, article by article.
Updated 11 September 2026
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 September 2026
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
Your healthcare and your Dutch ties
Healthcare in Panama: the age trap you need to know before departure
No CAK route, no compulsory state healthcare: in Panama you insure fully privately — and the insurers apply entry limits that hit hard: local up to about 65, international up to about 74. Why the acceptance question comes before every irreversible step, and how the pensionado discounts cut the healthcare bill itself.
Updated 7 September 2026
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 September 2026
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 September 2026
Want to walk this journey with the order watched — healthcare acceptance before the purchase, your pet's health certificate within the ten-day window, your Dutch affairs closed on the right day? The Panamanian step-by-step plan is ready for you.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Choose your destination and we'll send you the departure guide: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that at most one mail a month: first the question where your plans stand, then now and then one thing that fits the time of year or your country. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
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