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Concierge, ready to serve you

Too busy to set up your own move? Let our Concierge Service do it all for you.

We have a team of experts ready to help you acquire visas, find you a home abroad and then get you home and car insurance. We can even pick you up at the airport and show you around.

Find out how we can help.

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Moving to Panama

Among your most serious concerns will be having your household effects moved to Panama. At Livtopia, we know that anyone retiring needs special attention when moving house. After all, it's a lifetime's worth of possessions we're transporting. Let Livtopia's Concierge service sort through the moving process for you. We have years of valuable experience handling jobs from estate collections down to efficiency apartments and each is given the same careful attention.

There are a number of things to be concerned about when moving to a new country. We've outlined them all here to make your move as well-planned and headache-free as possible!

Relocation

Did you know that your car, your pet and all your household items can be brought to Panama with ease, as long as you have the right documents? Let us tell you more.

Things to Pack

Panama is largely a tropical country and so styles tend to be casual. This is balanced by the largely Catholic and Latin culture which might require you to dress slightly more formally, say for an even stroll in an inland town. Full blown tourist costumes have been known to draw unwanted attention, though of course this is less true at beach locations.

As the temperature can get rather hot, jeans can be uncomfortable, especially in the humidity of lowland locations, so comfortable light trousers are advisable. The sun can also be extremely powerful so sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat may be other good additions to your luggage. You'll want to pack appropriate to the weather conditions of the place you plan on visiting, and mountain locations will require more rugged, if not markedly heavier clothing.

All of the upper altitude and inland locations we recommend experience micro-climate conditions and so quick but very heavy downpours of rain can happen with little notice. These are usually refreshing and dramatic events, but travelers who've packed an umbrella or raincoat tend to enjoy them a bit more.

Immigration

We have all you need to know about what type of Visa to apply for when moving to Panama. Let us help you get your documents in order on our Visa / Immigration page.

Auto Shipping and Registration

Shipping a car is not as difficult as it might seem at first. Most people do this in conjunction with shipping a 40 foot container of household goods. We will be happy to assist you in the paperwork necessary for this process, and to help you to navigate the complexities of the importation process. This requires a logistics company to which of course we can refer you, and we'll be happy to refer you to an auto insurance company at the same time. Holder of the Pensioners Visa are entitled to import a car every two years, duty free. For more information on travel inside Panama and the airports, see our Local Transportation page.

Healthcare

Panama is home to a whole variety world class hospitals and clinics, many staffed by doctors trained in the US. Find out how healthcare works in Panama on our Healthcare page.

Mail-Forwarding from the US or Canada

The postal system in Panama is not something we recommend using. Two excellent companies do pick up the slack. Receiving and sending your mail and receiving package deliveries is much more convenient with either Air Box Express or Mail Boxes Etc. Airbox Express will deliver mail and packages directly to any Panama address you specify. Mail Boxes etc will a PO Box address in Miami and will ship it to Panama for a monthly fee of about $25 a month and you will need to then pick it up at one of their locations. But either of these options will provide you the most comprehensive mail delivery.

Voltage

Both the USA and Canada share the same electricity current as Panama: 60 Hz, 110V. Meaning that all your appliances will function the same in Panama as at home. Differences between sockets, old and new, are in almost all cases negligible, but a handful of 2-prong to 3-prong adaptors is a good thing to pack if you are moving house. If you are merely visiting, one adaptor should be sufficient.

Money

The official currency of Panama is the Balboa, but you'll never see one. Pegged to the US Dollar, the balboa hasn't been circulated since 1941, so the only thing you will see in circulation in Panama is the good old US dollar. No adjustment or calculating is necessary and banking networks are fully integrated with those in North America.

Bank accounts are relatively easy to open in Panama. A passport and/or residency card is necessary as are two banking reference letters, stating the length you held your account and the average balance. Panama is famous for its strict banking secrecy laws so you can be confident of complete confidentiality.

Ask your bank teller for the necessary paperwork to arrange to have your pension or social security check deposited directly into your bank account each month. Bilingual ATMs are available at almost any Panamanian bank and withdrawals are easy and safe. All of the major ATM networks are available and Visa and MasterCard credit cards can be used for cash advances (with a valid PIN number) or at a bank counter (with ID in absence of a PIN number).

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