UNHCR Welomes New Panama
Law
A new law in Panama will
give many refugees who
have been in the country
since the Central
American wars of the
early 1980s the chance
to apply for permanent
residency.
The National Assembly
passed Bill 298 on the
regularization of
long-standing refugees
in Panama on third
reading last week. The
new law will give
recognized refugees who
have been in Panama for
more than 10 years the
right to apply for
permanent residency.
After five years of
permanent residence,
they will be able to
apply for Panamanian
nationality.
UNHCR welcomes this
legal development, which
offers long-term
refugees an opportunity
to settle fully in
Panama. Mostly, these
are refugees from
Nicaragua and El
Salvador who came to
Panama during the
countries' conflicts.
While most repatriated
when peace returned,
some opted to stay and
settle with their
families.
Until now, these
refugees and their
families, some of whom
arrived in Panama as
long as 25 years ago,
had been living under a
temporary status, which
greatly impeded their
opportunities for
integration. It was, for
example, very difficult
for them to buy a house,
open a bank account or
get stable employment.
The bill is expected to
be signed by the
president within the
coming weeks and to come
into effect in the
following six months. It
will apply only to those
refugees who were
granted status 10 years
or more before the law
came into force. UNHCR
is advocating for other
refugees to be provided
with the long-term
opportunity to find
durable solutions in
Panama.
The majority of other
refugees who arrive in
Panama today come from
its southern neighbor
Colombia. In all, there
are almost 1,000
refugees in Panama and
another 900 people who
live in the most remote
and isolated regions of
the country under a
system known as
Temporary Humanitarian
Regime.
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