HAVANA- The National Migration Service of Panama (SNM) reported on Monday on the new requirements for Cubans to be able to process visas in their country, after temporarily suspending the service last week alleging a “vulnerability detected in the system.”
One of the requirements, until the website is recovered, involves presenting it in person and appointing a lawyer, the SNM detailed in its X profile.
Requirements
The entity specified that there are four new requirements: “Power of attorney granted by the applicant to a qualified lawyer, duly apostilled (This may only be presented by a legal representative). The power of attorney or authorization must expressly mention the reasons why the stamped visa is being requested.”
In addition, the SNM established the following requirements for Cubans: “Attach a simple copy of the passport details and a simple copy of the identity card and suitability.”
The Panamanian institution added that “the application must be submitted at the SNM headquarters, in the correspondence department. And in the data they must add an email, where the response will be sent.”
The local immigration authorities also reiterated that “the website where Cuban nationals are asked for stamped visas as tourists is being reviewed.” But this time they did not specify, as in a previous statement, that the online service would be reestablished at the end of July, which is why uncertainty in this regard is growing.
The new director of the SNM, Roger Mojica, said that the institution he heads is committed to transparency in these procedures and stressed the importance of complying with the country’s immigration laws, always respecting human rights.
“This measure seeks to guarantee a safe immigration process in accordance with current regulations, ensuring that all applications are handled appropriately once the system is reestablished,” the entity stated in a previous statement.
Many Cubans frequently travel to Panama for shopping tourism, while an undetermined number have used that territory as a transit zone to emigrate north, hoping to reach the United States.
Containment measures”
Panama’s new government is implementing tougher measures to contain migration. Earlier this month, the National Border Service announced the closure of at least three border crossings with Colombia used by hundreds of thousands of people to access the so-called Darien Gap or Darien jungle, considered the most dangerous migration corridor in the world.
By early June, 174,513 people had crossed the dangerous jungle that divides Panama and Colombia. The country of origin most represented among these migrants is Venezuela (113,244). It is followed by Ecuador (12,300), Colombia (11,219), China (10,348) and Haiti (9,980).
The 402 Cubans counted in the same period represent a downward trend compared to 2023, when a total of 1,124 migrants from the Island crossed the dangerous territory. That figure was also much lower than the 5,961 who did so in 2022.
Source: With information from Diario de Cuba