My wife and I are planning to move to Boquete in the near, but indeterminate, future. We will sell our home in Chicago and then have to move in a hurry. So I am planning how best to get my Pensionada visa.

I found the link for Move to Panama.org on the site of the U.S. consulate of the Republic of Panama. One of their advantages is that they also have a pet relocation service to ease the process of bringing our 2 cats swith us.

Does anyone have any experience with this company or advice for us? Thanks.

Thanks for the link to the pet moving service. I don't know about the company, but that is a useful service. Many people have brought their pets here, and you will find a lot of useful information on boquete.org under the topic "Bringing pets into Panama." It is under the category Expatriates Corner/Pets.

As for the pensionado visa, you should start that process when you know you will be coming. You have to bring several documents that have to be apostilled in your home state, and once that is done, there is a 3 month time limit to file them for your visa.

Because we were moving three dogs, I checked into a pet relocation service located in Tampa, Florida. It appeared to be good but was terribly expensive. The hardest part is getting together all the paperwork, and you would have to do this yourselves anyway. Inoculations have to be done no more than ten days before you depart. The vet's signature must be notarized, and then the notary must be apostiled either by the Panamanian consulate or by the apostile office in your state's Department of State. I assume there is a Panamanian consulate in Chicago, so you should be able to hand deliver the documents rather than sweat out sending them by mail or Fed Ex. Other paperwork required to be done in Panama ahead of your arrival can be handled by a facilitator here, who also will meet you at the airport and help you speedily get your pets through the vets there, pay the money, etc. We used Jose Saenz, who took care of everything beautifully, including driving us to Boquete so our pets wouldn't be subjected to another plane trip. You can contact him at bocasfrog@yahoo.com. His charge was much more reasonable, and the dogs arrived with us on our flight.

We started our pensionado process well before we moved. On a trip here, we retained a lawyer, who got us started. Then we went home and began gathering the paperwork and sent it to her. She, in turn, filed the documents with Immigration. When we arrived, therefore, everything was ready and we got our pensionado in a matter of days. I understand that it's taking longer now, and several people I know have had to get extensions on their tourist visas one or more times.

Good luck! International moving is very trying, but Boquete is worth it.

Bonnie's info is good but the timing on the inoculations is NO LESS THAN 30 DAYS and NO MORE THAN 1 YEAR prior to entry into Panama. We are leaving tomorrow morning for Panama with our two dogs. All of our paperwork to get the dogs into Panama was done through Dr Woolf at Air Animal in Tampa, FL. Total cost for vet check, USDA approval and the Panamanian Consulate stamps for both dogs was $430. We did not have to do any of the legwork......Air Animal handled everything. Perhaps it was easy for us because we live in the Tampa area. Jose Saenz will meet us at the plane tomorrow and get the dogs through the process. If you want to contact Air Animal in Tampa the toll free number is 800-635-3448 and the email address is www.airanimal.com. Prior to seeing Dr Woolf we had the dogs updated on all their shots and brought the paperwork with us to Dr Woolf.

Good luck.

Elaine

Unless things have changed in the last nine months, the paperwork from the vet must be done within 10 days prior to departure. It probably is true that the inoculations may be have been done earlier and therefore must only be declared as effective within the ten day framework. In any case, there is a ten day window on getting the vet's certification--again, unless things have changed. The point is that, unless you're close to everything you need, it's a nerve-wracking experience to try to get everything done within ten days when you're also trying to solidify other moving issues.

Air Animal is the service I contacted. But, since I didn't live in Tampa, they couldn't do the paperwork for me. My point was that if you're going to pay Jose in Panama City and have to do the paperwork yourself, why pay Air Panama?

When I brought Link (my 3 pound chihuahua) over to Panama I went to my vet first that gave me international traveling papers. This are a copy of 6 papers (this cost about 60 dolars if my memory doesnt fail me) then I sent this to the USDA and they were really fast you can send it through mail and this cost about 25-30 dollars for them to stamp it, then the Panamanian consulate there are plenty (you can take it in person or mail it) if you need it for the same day its 80 vs if you wait a week 25, I paid the 80.

Then bringing him to Panama I flew Copa because they allow for dogs to go onboard with you (you have to reserve with time since only 2 dogs can go on the flight). My flight was empty they even let me have him outside in the seat next to me.
Very important you must have a SOFT bendable dog carrier because if not they wont let you in.

What else. Imigration in Panama. Well you have to get to Panama on a weekday before 6 PM otherwise they will keep your dog for the night or weekend.
It costs about 120 dollars to take him vs the 40 day cuarentena.

And this is it .. they will call you and ask how the dog is doing, fine..

This is my story.. hope it helps you

Photo: Link and me living it up in Tallahassee, Fl...

To clear up the confusion in time periods: The rabies vaccine must have been given at least 30 days before arrival and not more than one year. The health certificate from the vet must not be more than 10 days old.

This 10 day window is what makes the process so frantic. In that time you have to mail (FedEx is the only thing that works if you can't drive to the consulate) the health certificate and rabies certificate to the Panamanian consulate and get it back from them and then get into Panama before the 10 days is up. You also have to get the health certificate stamped by the USDA before you send it to the consulate. If you have more than one animal, all of them should be put on one health certificate. That way you pay only $30, not $30 for each animal. You can do this in your home state capitol. All this is detailed thoroughly in the other thread, "Bringing Pets Into Panama."

Thanks to all for your help. Are the "10 days" 10 calendar or 10work days?

10 calendar days.