Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The new 30 day visa regulations

This month's Bocas Breeze has an excellent explanation of the latest visa regulations, how it got passed and why nobody, even in Panama, knew about it before it was law!

It also explains in great detail what is required of tourists with regard to paperwork... which seems cumbersome, to say the least.

Immigration began enforcing this new law with a bang by sending out undercover patrols stopping tourists and demanding proof of legal immigration status. Most tourists do not know that Panama requires everyone over 18 years of age to possess positive identification and all foreigners must carry a passport, tourist card, immigration visa, residency carnet, or cedula (national ID card). Immigration arrested some tourists while allowing others to retrieve their papers and gave others strict warnings to always carry their ìpapersî. Other tourists denied re-entry to Panama because immigration border guards felt they had left and returned too many times...

Another excerpt says:

...It is against the law to overstay your tourist visa in every country. You can be subject to arrest and deported back to your country of origin. (Oh yeah? Not in the US. We offer them amnesty!) If you do over stay your visa and are not caught all is forgiven if you go to Immigration before leaving Panama and pay a fine of $275 for overstaying by 12 months or $300 for more than 12 months. Immigration gives you a document to show Immigration officers at the airport or border so you are legally free to go and return after 72 hours...

Read the entire article here.

Mick @ Lot 83

3 comments:

george jackson said...

Hello,
This is my second comment today! But I am trying to assure my wife we will not kill the Earth if we buy at RF. I found this the the RF environmental plan:

"Maintaining an onsite team of enviornmental scientists."

Can anyone let me know how I can get in touch with these scientists? It is almost impossible to get info from the RF admin.

Thanks,
George
georgeatwibikidotcome

Mick @ Lot 83 said...

Red Frog is now on hold pending getting new funding squared away and settling a 10 month long labor dispute. This could be the reason you are running into trouble reaching someone.

Though they maintain they have a strong equity position and have a new round of funding coming, many of the team have either been laid off or have gone on to other things.

Scott Harris is still available by e-mail at sharris@redfrogbeach.com to answer specific questions about the project.

Anonymous said...

Did you also see the article at the very end of the Bocas Breeze November Edition regarding the change in Building heighth limitations? Seems people in Bocas del Toro are just now starting to get alarmed but it was approved over a year ago by the minicipality. Looks to me like one can build something like a a 10 to 12 story building on Basitimentos now(47m. or approx 153ft.). Red Frog BC is looking better all the time.