Job Discussion Forums

[TOBrian]

Dear Informed,

Can anybody tell me what weighs heavier, the pros or the cons for teaching and living in Panama for one year? I am looking for super low visa hassles, reasonable pay by comparison and to not have too much trouble finding the work and a place to live. I am Canadian(29 and from Toronto). I have a couple diplomas and one year's teaching experience at a language school in Tokyo,Japan. My girlfriend has the same experience and a degree. What kind of situation might we be looking into there? Any and all feedback is well recieved.

Thank you for the time,

Regards,

Brian

[naturegirl321]

I've heard it's very very difficult to get a work visa.

[john_n_carolina]

yes, i've heard the same. recently, they've changed their visa policies. you're best bet would be to join the "Yahoo Panama" group...and ask the residents that are living there..

[misterbrownpants]

i heard its apretty sketchy place to be...???

[Guy Courchesne]

Popular spot for retirees and vacationers. Probably a bit safer than an American city.

[john_n_carolina]

...on the YahooGroup Panama, the people there provide lots of "up to date" info on the visa. i believe, the Residence Visa is now requiring $250K in your bank or something. they were responding to flooding of their housing market from foreigners, Chinese, etc.

but, i don't know about safety? in a country where people are making $300-400 / mo FT and you have $250K or maybe $500K in the bank....you will be a target of crime. recently, this has been happening more and more in Costa Rica, Northern Mexico, and Panama also. this never happened years ago in Baja.

for example:
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2008/jan/07/crime-keeps-tourists-popular-mexico-beaches/

Crime keeps tourists from popular Mexico beaches
By Associated Press
Monday, January 7, 2008

PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico � Assaults on American tourists have brought hard times to hotels and restaurants that dot Mexican beaches just south of the border from San Diego.

Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, long popular as a weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Weddings have been canceled. Lobster joints a few steps from the Pacific were almost empty on the usually busy New Year's weekend.

Americans have long tolerated shakedowns by police who boost salaries by pulling over motorists for alleged traffic violations, and tourists know parts of Baja are a hotbed of drug-related violence. But a handful of attacks since summer by masked, armed bandits � some of whom used flashing lights to appear like police � marks a new extreme that has spooked even longtime visitors.

on the other hand, i've got a friend who lives in downtown Bronx. he reports that you can easily walk at 10PM with no problem, hasssles, gunshots, robberies at all. however, if you were a 22 year old blonde college student aspiring-actress living in central Bronx, you are putting yourself at risk. same story, if you drive a new 2008 Mercedes 500SL into Brooklyn and stop to buy a bottle of Vodka at some cheap liquor store. it all has to do with 'riesgo'.

my 18 months living in the Galapagos, never locked my door once. i had a Minolta Maxxum 7000 with 5 lenses, Toshiba laptop, and a printer.

having said that, Panama City is probably a lot safer than living in Sao Paolo.

[nineisone]

I've been to Panama; specifically Panama City which is very much an international and modern city. Still lots of ex-pat communities formed around the canal zone. Surprising amount of wealth for a CA city. Costs a bit high for the region. Downtown P.C. reminds me a bit of downtown Miami. Panama City is the safer of the two.

I recall that the old visa rules included some sort of sponsorship requirment that made the process more difficult. Will be interested to know/view the new rules. Please post if/when you locate that info.

[misteradventure]

Unless someone offers you a job and guarantees you a visa, forget it.

Unless you have money and want to invest and start a company (Think around $50K USD), forget it.

I see CR is hiring...

[Tiger Beer]

[Patinpanama]

I am in Panama and can tell you that the visa thing is tough here. They keep changing the law and and we don't know from one day to the next how long our tourist visa will last... sometimes a month, sometimes two. The most successful teachers don't bother with the visa and get agressive approaching big business to try to secure blocks of hours. If anyone needs hours I have some to give away in the banking district while I take some time off.

[kingkristopher]

For all intents and purposes you cannot get a visa to work in Panama. Panama has restructured its immigration laws to keep out Central and South Americans who are "stealing" their jobs. While these reforms are targeted at those nationalities, they affect all foreigners. You could try to get a company to sponsor you, but that is extremely unlikely. Companies are only allowed to have a maximum of 10% of their employees be foreign. Most companies will reserve this exemption for General mangers and CEO's. In the case of universities, this is usally the rector. In the past you could get a company to list you on their payroll as a "phantom" employee, thus sponsoring you, but the government has cracked down on that recently.

Thus, your only options would be 1) to get married to a Panamanian (as I did) which would still require a long (at least six months-though mine took almost 2 and a half years) and expensive (at least $800 USD) process, 2) to get a "persons of means" visa as noted before. You must post either 200K in cash as a bond (i.e. you cannot touch it for the length of time you are here) or purchase a property valued at 200K or more (note that it must be one singular property of that value not a variety that add up to that amount, I am unsure why there is this distinction.) or 3) to open a small business in Panama which employs at least 3 Panamanians and generates revenue of at least 40K USD per year for five years. As I said, for all intents and purposes, Panama is closed to foreign English teachers.

There are people who come here and work illegally, though that market is drying up too. None of the universities or respectable institutions will touch you without working papers. Those that will won't pay you anything ($5-7 per hour, ouch!). You could try to scare up private classes which could easily sustain you ($20-40 an hour), but what are you going to do when the police ask for your papers (and believe me they will!). Also, a new change to the tourist visa requires that you show a return ticket to your home country (not just any onward point as it used to be) or post $800 as a guarantee of your exit upon expiry of the tourist card (30 days). If you are caught here working illegally, or even overstaying your visa you will be deported (at your expense as mentioned above). Immigration will seize your passport to ensure that this is so.

This is all very unfortunate because Panama is an EXCELLENT market for English teachers. There are not enough qualified native speakers (or even bilingual nationals) to fill the many positions here. Universities pay between $15-20 an hour, there are lots of hours and lots of places to work. You can easily make between $1500-3000 a month here, though at the higher end of the wage-scale you'd be putting in VERY long hours (try 50 plus hours/week). Additionally, Panama is an excellent place to live. It is relatively safe for a city of its size, clean by Latin American standards, has a reasonable standard of living for the expense and it's quite modernised and progressive.

If you can find some way around the legal barriers (and I SINCERELY doubt that you can) then by all means come to Panama. I originally came here on a four-month contract. Almost five years later I'm still here. It really is a fantastic market for teachers.

[naturegirl321]

Panama sounds gret though with the salary. 50 hours is normal here. Do they have resident visas for other south american nationalities, like Peru?

[kingkristopher]

Perhaps I've misrepresented... 50 hours is definitely not the norm here, but some teachers are more than willing to take the hours. Personally, I usually only work about 20 hours a week. But I have a small daughter who I have to take care of. If I weren't a single parent I would have much more time to take on more classes (I don't work Satudays for example).

Most teachers here work during peak hours only and relax or prepare the rest of the day. Here peak hours are generally considered to be 7-9 am and 5-9 pm. I work 8-10 am and then again 6-8:30 pm Monday through Thursday. I pepper that with the occaisional private class and I make upwards of 2K/month. Like I said, you can make more if you're willing to put in the hours. For me, I'd rather spend the time with my daughter.

As for residence visas for other nationalities, there are none that I know of. Of course, I'm an English teacher not an Immigration lawyer but I do try to keep abreast of changes in Immigration Law, for obvious reasons. I doubt that such an exemption would exist since that's exactly the demographic they are targeting with their laws.

Fair or not, the Panamanian government is trying to stop nationals from other Latin countries from "stealing" their jobs. They aren't really targeted at Canadian, Americans or Europeans because those nationalities rarely come here in great numbers (to settle at least). However, with the econmic situation in Panama considerably better than in most other latin countries, there has been an influx of immigrants to Panama in the last ten years or so. Officials now are trying to stem that tide, for better or worse.

Hope that clears things up.

Cheers