Over the years, Panama has gotten a lot of attention in its attraction of foreign investors, foreign retirees and international business corporations (IBCs) . Its prime geographical location has always made it an ideal trade hub, connecting shipping freight from one part of the world to another. Its mild climate, rich culture, beautiful scenery, low cost of living and great medical services have made the country a popular retirement destination for people all over the world.
With its prime geographical location, stable infrastructure, solid and expanding economy, large pool of employees and a government that favors business and foreign investment with favorable tax and business incentives, Panama has caught the attention of other countries who want to participate in trade and multinational corporations that want to expand their goods and services into the hands of South American consumers. This healthy business and economical environments in Panama have bettered the lives of more than 5,000 Panamanians in the form of job creation and have given Panama additional respect and recognition on the world financial stage.
Panama’s Financial Success
While Panama has an undesirable past with corrupt governments and high levels of poverty and violence, the more recent government regime has taken steps to build Panama up to be a top-notch trade, business and financial powerhouse in Latin America.
Business friendly initiatives such as lenient business taxes, incentives for foreign retirees, its banking center and improved trade agreements with countries like China have made Panama a desirable country for foreign investors, businesspeople and entrepreneurs to conduct business in. As of 2017, around 140 multinational corporations have made Panama their home base for operation, bringing more than $800 million dollars into the Panamanian economy, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI).
Opportunities for Foreign Workers
With many foreign, international businesses establishing their business hubs to Panama, the demand for highly skilled, educated workers continue to increase. While Panama has many of these types of workers, there are more job openings than available workers in Panama.
To help remedy this problem of a lack of qualified workers for the many multinational corporations that relocate to Panama, the Panamanian government along with the support of the Panamanian business sector passed a series of proposals that allows and authorizes international business corporations and multinational corporations to hire more foreign employees and staff.
Both Panamanian and foreign entrepreneurs have proposed increasing the proportion of foreign personnel that can be legally contracted by companies operating in the country, from 10% to 20% as a way to encourage foreign workers to relocate to Panama and fill in the many vacant jobs.
The new laws add on to Law 41 which was passed in August of 2007, which created the SEM, a regime that establishes and oversees the operation of Panama’s Multinational Company Headquarters. Through the SEM, multinational corporations and international business corporations received tax, labor and migration benefits.
Since 2012, when Law 45 was passed, multinational corporations received benefits and incentives for hiring foreign workers through a variety of measures that allowed greater leniency in obtaining permanent staff, permanent residence and dependent visas.
If the uncertainty of finding enough high-quality, skilled, educated workers is what’s holding you back from relocating your international business or multinational corporation to Panama, contact us at Mata Pitti Attorneys at Law and we’ll gladly give you updated information about the Panamanian government’s relaxed foreign labor laws that give you more freedom to access a large, worldwide pool of qualified job candidates. Panama is a great place to relocate a multinational corporation and we can help you get started.