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Panama for Chinese passport holders: Embassy visa

Your circumstances

Passport:
🇨🇳 Chinese
Lives in:
Not specified (general rule)
Going to:
🇵🇦 Panama
Purpose:
Holiday

Route summary

Embassy visa

Visa required

Chinese passport holders need a visa to enter Panama.

Conditions

No conditions recorded for this route — check the official source.

About this route

Route type
Embassy visa: you apply through an embassy, consulate or appointed visa centre.
Documents
Document list not published by the official source.
Fee
Fee not published by the official source.
Processing
Processing time not published by the official source.

Next step

Steps not published by the official source — use the official link to start.

Official sourcemigracion.gob.pa ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Last checked 10 Oct 2026 against migracion.gob.pa · Servicio Nacional de Migración 'Clasificación de visas en la República de Panamá' PDF (ordinary passports, created 2026-10-05), read 2026-10-16

Documents

Document list not published by the official source.

Fees

Fee not published by the official source.

Processing and validity

Processing time, validity and maximum stay: not published by the official source.

Already hold another country's visa or residence permit?

Some Chinese passport holders can enter Panama differently if they hold one of these documents. Add yours (optional – kept only in the page address):

Documents I hold (optional)

If you hold a valid Canadian/US/Australian/South Korean/Japanese/UK/… visa: No visa needed

Qualifying documents: Canadian visa, US visa, Australian visa, South Korean visa, Japanese visa, UK visa, Singapore visa, EU (non-Schengen) visa, Schengen visa.

  • A visa of Canada, the US, Australia, South Korea, Japan, the UK, Singapore or any EU state (Executive Decree 196 of 2024).

Source: Embassy of Panama in the Philippines (PDF on Decree 196/2024) (panamaembassy.ph). Checked 16 Oct 2026. Official embassy document, not the immigration authority's own page.

What the source says

"… who possess an entry visa of any of the following countries: Canada, United States of America, Commonwealth of Australia, Republic of Korea …"

Border officers decide on entry. Check the official source before you travel.

How to apply: Visa required

Where to apply

Where: Panamanian consulate / SNM

Quick answers

Do Chinese passport holders need a visa for Panama?

Visa required. Chinese passport holders need a visa to enter Panama. Source: https://www.migracion.gob.pa/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/NacionalesquerequierenVisadeAcuerdoPasaporteordinario-2.pdf

Business, work or just passing through?

The rules above are for a holiday: tourism and visiting family and friends. Business visits, paid work and transit are covered separately below.

Business visits to Panama

Not verified yet (not yet covered). We haven't verified the business rules for Chinese passport holders, and we don't publish rules we haven't checked against an official source. A rule that is awaiting verification or not yet covered is not a negative visa decision: it only means we haven't confirmed it on an official source yet. Until then, see migracion.gob.pa.

Working in Panama

⚠ Not from an official source: items marked below come from secondary sources (law firms, employer-of-record guides, IOM, Wikipedia), not the destination government. They are not verified and may be out of date; confirm with the embassy or immigration authority.

Main work visa routes for Panama

These are the main routes and what they require. Whether you qualify depends on your circumstances; the official page decides.

Work permit (after residence)

⚠ Not from an official source

For: Foreign employees in Panama

  • Immigration visa and residence first, then the work permit; the employer obtains it

Source: G-P Globalpedia – Panama visas & permits (employer-of-record guide) (Not official) (globalization-partners.com) · Not from an official source.

What the source says

"foreign employees will need to get an immigration visa and establish residence before applying for a work permit." … "In Panama, it’s the employer’s responsibility to obtain a work permit on behalf of any foreign employees."

Checked 16 Oct 2026. Requirements, fees and thresholds change; confirm on the official page before applying.

Your work travel report

We only create the PDF report from rules checked against an official government source.

Transit through Panama

Not verified yet (not yet covered). We haven't verified the transit rules for Chinese passport holders, and we don't publish rules we haven't checked against an official source. A rule that is awaiting verification or not yet covered is not a negative visa decision: it only means we haven't confirmed it on an official source yet. Until then, see migracion.gob.pa.

Your transit travel report

We only create the PDF report from rules checked against an official government source.

Alert me if this route changes

Get an email when we update the guidance for Chinese passport holders going to Panama, after we've checked the change against the official source. Nothing else.

Tell me about changes to

We send a confirmation email first. Unconfirmed sign-ups are deleted after 7 days.

Before you go to Panama

Customs cash limits and the scams official travel advice warns about in Panama.

Common tourist traps

  1. Muggings after ATM withdrawals

    How it works: People have been attacked after taking cash from ATMs.

    How to avoid it: Use ATMs inside banks or shopping centres, and use ride-hailing apps or hotel-arranged transport rather than street taxis.

Emergency numbers in Panama

Paraphrased from official travel advice: gov.uk · FCDO page updated 9 Oct 2026 · Last checked 24 Oct 2026.

Explore Panama

Planning more than the paperwork? Our Panama guide picks out places to visit, with a source for every tip.

Places to visit:
Portobelo and San Lorenzo forts · Coiba National Park
Read the full Panama guide

Chinese passport: of the 150 destinations with a rule verified from an official source, 40 visa-free, 15 visa on arrival, 27 eVisa or travel authorisation, 68 embassy visa.

Panama: rules verified from an official source for 195 of 198 passports. Panama guide and every passport →

Where else can Chinese passport holders travel? See every destination we cover →

Optional travel offers

Some links are affiliate links. Booking through them costs you nothing extra, and a small commission helps pay MyVisaPort’s ongoing hosting and maintenance costs and keeps the site free of banner ads. We only list services we think are useful, and they never affect the visa information we publish. These offers are not part of the visa guidance above and are never used to rank routes. How partner links work

Plan your trip to Panama

Verify with the embassy before you book. Visa rules change without notice. We link every rule to its official source and last checked it on 10 Oct 2026, but the embassy, official e-visa portal and your airline have the final say. MyVisaPort is not a visa agent and is not affiliated with any government.