1. In theory one could leave just before the end of the 90 days and reenter. However, upon reentry an immigration official can take a hard look at the cluttered rubber stamps and bar entry for abuse of the 90-day term (I have never heard of it happening in Panama but it does happen in the US). 2. From the short stay, I have a feeling you did not wait long enough to have your picture taken for your 3-month card and you were supposed to get a Multiple Entry Permit under the old law. Depending on when you return, you may have to pay a fine. De: Shari1551 |
Monday, October 27, 2008
Re : new laws - question on migration
Monday, October 20, 2008
Yellow Fever vaccination recommendations
- departing Panama to Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela in South América, and Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Camerun, Congo D.R., Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Sudan in Africa,
- travelling to Panama province East, San Blas and Darien province.
The good intentions of the vaccination were overshadowed by thousands of complaints by taxpayers from long lines at MINSA vaccination centers and an irrational limit of 300 vaccinations per day.
While Panama may not make the vaccination compulsory, other countries may demand that travellers coming from Panama have the yellow WHO International Vaccination Certificate.
http://www.minsa.gob.pa/minsa2008/final_newpage/fiebreamarilla_main.html
Disorganization and long lines at MINSA vaccination translation of mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2008/09/30/hoy/panorama/1538211.html">
WHO List of Yellow Fever countries
Sunday, October 19, 2008
移民新法例為民眾解決問題還是增加障礙?
2007的第五條新法令包含了外國僑民移民和入籍的新法
規。 關於簽證方面,主要分成四類:
非居民 (旅客,過境客)。 »
臨時居民 (技術人員,傳道人,外交人仕)。 »
永久居民 (投資者, 配偶)。 »
受巴拿馬政府庇護之外國人仕(難民, 被孤立者)。 »
通常,所有的外國人都以非居留簽證入境巴拿馬, 然後再申
請臨時或永久居留.
有了新法令,國家移民服務局應該在60個工作日的時間內
解決所有臨時或永久居留的允許證申請。發現資料不完全或
有缺陷的申請時,從發通知那天算起,給予15天工作日的期限
讓申請者來改正。
入籍
國家憲法只要求入籍申請者於巴拿馬居住有超過五年以上
時間,能說西班牙文以及認識巴拿馬歷史。然而,法律卻新增
了以下的要求:
請授權律師代為申請,申請書上還必須表明願意不可撤銷
的放棄原籍。根據
2001年擬定的律師收費表,此項服務需付$2000美元。 »
證人在巡迴審判法庭的法官面前做司法程序以外的五 »
項聲明,證人可以聲明與申請人非親屬關係,證明申請
人在巴拿馬居住超過五年時間 並且行為良好(如申請人
是與巴拿馬籍人仕結婚,甚至有了兒女,那麼要求的居
住年數則為三年)。
移民現狀證明書。 »
由司法技術調查警局 (P.T.J.)核發之無犯罪紀錄證書。 »
一般體檢以證明沒有精神病或傳染病。 »
生活擔保書:出示銀行信,工作信,需附上社保局 (C.S.S.) »
的繳稅收據或支票存根,或者入息稅證明。
出生證明,或者提供有關進入巴拿馬境內紀錄的護照。 »
兩張證件照,拍照時需穿著整齊。 »
一旦經行政院批核申請入籍信函,需付$600劃線印花稅 »
票。
在申請條件基於與巴拿馬籍人士結婚三年的時間的情況 »
下,需備結婚證書或於巴拿馬出生的兒女之出生證書。
新法律廢除了五個證人的聲明,愛滋病病毒(HIV) 和梅毒檢
驗。 然而卻增加了更多的條件:
沒有犯罪前科, 或在最後五年曾居住過的國家或本國有 »
被逮捕紀錄之證明。
由移民局頒發的經公正鑑定過之永久居民身分證複印 »
件。
與申請人單獨面談。 »
國家清稅證。
有了以上的必要條件後, 司政局將會下令呈交第二份
移民現狀證明和西班牙語及巴拿馬歷史測驗。 如入籍申
請遭拒批, 將不可上訴或獲復批。
入籍程序被新聞日報 (Diario La Prensa) 的一位提供消
息人仕形容為“極度官僚化”, 因為入籍獲得批核的時間
應該是幾個月,然而有一些個案卻用了五年時間來批核”。
消息人仕還表示, 在目前的行政管理期間, 申請入巴拿
馬籍之人數明顯下降。 於2004年批核了527個案; 2005年.
413個; 2006年300個; 而於2007年只有97個。
消息人仕建議國家移民服務局務必加快辦理入籍文件
的速度, 提高辦事效率, 這樣才會給願意獲得巴拿馬國
籍的人仕有個公平的交代。
作者是 Alvaro Agular Alfu, 是Lombardi
Aguilar & Garcia 法律事務所合夥人兼律
師 www.laglex.com
Sunday, October 12, 2008
A bequest for Panama's poor children - blocked by family
A bequest for Panama's poor children - blocked by family
PANAMA CITY: In life, Wilson Lucom was not exactly child-friendly. The curmudgeon never had children himself, nor was he especially close to the offspring of his third wife, Hilda. When he opened his ample checkbook, friends say, it was more likely to finance a conservative political cause than to help underprivileged youth.
But Lucom, a native of rural Pennsylvania who spent much of his life in Palm Beach, Florida, surprised everyone in his will, which was disclosed upon his death two years ago at the age of 88. After doling out relatively small portions of his tens of millions of dollars to survivors, he left the rest to a foundation he had dreamed up in secrecy to aid the poor children of Panama, where he spent the final years of his life.
It would be one of the largest charitable donations, if not the largest, in Panama's history, but so far not a single child has had access to the money. The will has set off a vicious legal battle that is playing out in at least four countries. Criminal charges have been filed, insults traded and threats made. The number of law firms involved exceeds 20.
"This is all about greed," said Hector Avila, an advocate for at-risk children in Panama who organized a demonstration of young people in May outside the Supreme Court in Panama, calling for Lucom's gift to be honored. Within a week of the protest, Avila survived a shooting. No link to the Lucom case was established.
Lucom married well, amassing a fortune when his second wife, Virginia Willys, whose father had been an Ohio auto tycoon, died in 1981. A year later, Lucom met and wed Hilda Piza, who had been married previously to Gilberto Arias, son of Harmodio Arias and nephew of Arnulfo Arias, both former presidents of Panama.
Lucom eventually relocated with his new wife to Panama, selling his Palm Beach mansion in 1990 to a relative of the king of Saudi Arabia for $14.3 million.
Lucom used his money to bankroll anti-Communist groups, and he helped found the conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media. In his later years, he frequently wrote commentaries that showed his firm opinions, some of them decidedly unconventional, on the ways of the world.
Dropping nuclear weapons was one of his preferences for making things right in the world. Catching Osama bin Laden was as simple, he argued, as putting a $1 billion bounty on his head.
In his will, he spelled out how he thought the malnutrition facing one-fifth of Panama's children could be combated. His plan was to buy seeds, supply them to parent volunteers who agreed to donate idle land and then reap the harvests for hungry children.
Whether his idea had merit may never be known. Lucom's 84-year-old widow, Hilda, is fighting to have his will thrown out. The issue is now before Panama's highest court, with legal skirmishes also playing out in Palm Beach, and the Caribbean nations of St. Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands also involved.
The controversy begins with a charitable act that may have at least partly been rooted in spite. Friends say that Lucom was not on particularly good terms with his third wife's adult children when he died, which is hinted at in the will.
In it, he granted his wife a monthly pension of $20,000 and use of his artwork, grand piano and furniture for as long as she lives. He gave her five children, descendants of the Arias family, one-time payments of $50,000 to $200,000 each. As for the 7,000-acre, or 2,800-hectare, oceanfront cattle ranch that he had bought from the Arias family, he wanted that sold, with the assets going to the poor.
In interviews, the Arias offspring do not let on that there was any clash between them and the man they alternatively refer to as "Mr. Lucom," "Chuck" or "Uncle Chuck."
But Lucom's widow is more candid. "He was a very difficult man," she said in an interview. "He wanted to be No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3."
She added, in a frail voice, "He never talked to me about poor children."
The only support Wilson Lucom had given to children previously, the family said, was the $100 he would spend to buy two books of raffle tickets for a children's charity that Hilda Lucom's granddaughter, Madelaine Urrutia, helped run.
But in the will, prepared a year before his death, Lucom appeared to leave no doubt about his intentions. Panamanian courts have backed the will so far, but the issue is now before the country's Supreme Court, which critics say has shown itself susceptible to political interference in the past.
"If you ask me if I expect to win it in light of all the corruption I've seen, I don't expect to win it," said Lehman, who has been suspended by the court as the executor of the will pending a resolution of the legal case.
Lucom also willed $1 million to the Mayo Clinic, which had treated him for cancer. The clinic, in Minnesota, has hired a lawyer to ensure that it gets the money. Other amounts went to former household employees and to friends, including Christopher Ruddy, founder of NewsMax Media, which published many of Lucom's writings online. Ruddy, who owed Lucom more than $1 million at the time of his death, has hired lawyers to represent his interests.
Lawyers for the Arias family say there is more to the story than a crotchety old man using his fortune to make good with the world. They contend that the will was a scheme concocted by Lehman, the lawyer, to enrich himself.
Just days before Lucom died, on June 2, 2006, Lehman created a trust to administer the children's charity fund. He created it in St. Kitts and Nevis, a Caribbean tax haven where Lucom had gained citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
...So far, though, the children have received nothing. While Panama's capital, coastline and Canal Zone are bustling with development, dire poverty grips much of the country's interior. Unicef estimates that more than half the country's children younger than 5 live in poverty and nearly a third in extreme poverty. Malnutrition affects about 20 percent of young children, with more than half of indigenous children underweight.
Amid the finger-pointing have been hardball tactics. Hilda Lucom's politically connected attorney, Hector Infante, has filed criminal charges against Lehman and a Panamanian colleague, accusing them of playing a role in Lucom's death and engaging in extortion, among other offenses.
One of Infante's associates even called up the Panama office of Interpol and managed to get Lehman's colleague detained while he was on a business trip. The lawyer was soon released when Interpol discovered that the charges had been dismissed.
With other charges pending, Lehman now stays out of Panama for fear he might be arrested. He has countersued the Arias family, accusing them of using the family-run newspaper, El Panama America, to libel him.
If there is a benefit to all the legal wrangling, it is that the value of Lucom's oceanfront cattle ranch has risen significantly since he died, possibly even quadrupling to $80 million. Settlement negotiations have taken place, but gotten nowhere.
As Lehman put it in a letter to Hilda Lucom seeking to make a deal, "I believe this is a pie that is so large that it can take into account everyone's feeling and rights to their entitlement to benefit from Lucom's fortune."
Full text in http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/25/america/panama.php?page=2
Legal Battles Tie Up Money Left for Poor Children in Panama
June 25, 2008
Legal Battles Tie Up Money Left for Poor Children in Panama
A gift of tens of millions of dollars to a foundation to help needy children in Panama has been tied up in disputes involving over 20 law firms, the Panamanian courts, and the donor’s surviving family, reports The New York Times. The donation — from the will of Wilson C. Lucom, who died two years ago at the age of 88 — is the bulk of his estate.
“This is all about greed,” said Hector Avila, an advocate for needy children in Panama, who survived a shooting within a week of a protest he led in May to push the court to honor Mr. Lucom’s gift.
Panamanian courts have so far expressed support for the will, but critics remain wary of potential corruption. “If you ask me if I expect to win in light of all the corruption I’ve seen, I don’t expect to win it,” said Richard S. Lehman, a longtime lawyer to Mr. Lucom who is now caught in the middle of the battle and who has been suspended by a Panamanian judge as the executor of the will.
Mr. Lucom’s widow, Hilda Lucom, 84, who received a $20,000 monthly pension and the use of his artwork and furniture, is fighting for his will to be dismissed. “He never talked to me about poor children,” said Ms. Lucom, who added in a court deposition, “He didn’t like children.”
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Wednesday June 25, 2008 Permalink
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Sunday, October 05, 2008
Yellow Fever vaccination requirements (more)
The CDC and the Canada Public Health Agency further explain the use of the International Certificate of Vaccination (Certificados Internacionales de Vacunacion / Certificats Internationaux de Vaccination) card for yellow fever and cholera. These vaccines are usually available only from state travel clinics and not from private clinics.
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http://www.copaair.com/nuestraEmpresa/noticias/noticia.aspx?Id=145&lang=en
On Fri, 10/3/08, Panama, ACS
Subject: PANAMA-TRAVELERS MUST BE VACCINATED AGAINST YELLOW FEVER
Date: Friday, October 3, 2008, 2:49 PM
UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION - TRAVELERS MUST BE VACCINATED AGAINST YELLOW FEVER
Attention hours for those who need the vaccine are Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and the cost is five dollars. Passengers in transit and coming from countries that are not included in the list of 45 countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, according the World Health Organization's (WHO) classification, are not required to have the international vaccination card against this disease.
For this vaccine to be effective it must be applied 10 days before the stipulated travel date and the dose duration (efficient protective titers) is 10 years.
The health measure announced by the Ministry of Health, of requesting as of next November 1, that all national or foreign travelers that enter Panama from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission be vaccinated, seeks to prevent the resurgence of the disease in the country.
It is necessary to remember that the last cases of sylvan yellow fever in Panama were registered in 1974 and the Ministry of Health tries to comply with what is established in the 2005 International Health Regulation (RSI), in preventing the spreading of epidemics and improving cooperation among countries with that same objective. Its adaptation is oriented towards current world challenges in view of the reappearance of infectious diseases, of the growing risk of international spreading and of the appearance of new health alerts with worldwide repercussions.
According to the WHO, 111 countries (including Panama) require that persons who enter their territory from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission be vaccinated.
Panama has an established epidemiological monitoring of yellow fever, proper attention of suspect cases, continuous education to the health team on disease prevention and control, information, education and communication with the community of prevention and control measures of yellow fever, a viral, transmissible, preventable and acute infectious disease, of rapid evolution and variable seriousness that is transmitted through a mosquito bite. Next is a list of countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, according to the World Health Organization (WHO):
- American Continent
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Suriname
- Venezuela
- African Continent
- Angola
- Liberia
- Benin
- Mali
- Burkina Faso
- Mauritania
- Burundi
- Niger
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
- Congo
- Rwanda
- Republic of Congo
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Central African Republic
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Côte D'Ivoire
- Togo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Uganda
- United Republic of Tanzania
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea Bissau
The list provided by the WHO of countries that request vaccination against yellow fever from international travelers that come from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission.
(From the Panamanian Ministry of Health)
CDC Health Information for International Travel 2008
Yellow Fever Vaccine Requirements and Information on Malaria Risk and Prophylaxis, by Country
Country | Yellow Fever | Malaria | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Requirements1 | CDC recommendations2,4 | Area of risk | Chloroquine resistance | Recommended prophylaxis |
Panama | If traveling from an endemic zone | For all travelers >9 months of age traveling to the provinces of Darien, Kunayala (San Blas) and Panama (see Map 4-16), excluding the Canal Zone, Panama City and the San Blas Islands. | Risk exists in rural areas of Bocas Del Toro, Darién, San Blas provinces and San Blas Islands. No risk in Panama City or in the former Canal Zone. | Confirmed in Darién and San Blas provinces, including San Blas islands. | Chloroquine in Bocas Del Toro. Atovaquone/ proguanil; doxycycline; or mefloquine in Darién and San Blas. |
1Yellow fever vaccine entry requirements are necessary for travelers to comply with in order to enter the country. In general, these are in place to prevent importation and transmission of yellow fever virus. Countries requiring yellow fever vaccination for entry adhere to the regulations put forth by WHO as stated in the International Health Regulations. Some countries require vaccination for travelers coming from an endemic zone. “Traveling from an endemic zone” is defi ned as transit through an endemic zone in the previous 6 days. Country requirements are subject to change at any time; therefore, CDC encourages travelers to check with the appropriate embassy or consulate prior to departure.
2The information in the section on yellow fever vaccine recommendations is advice given by CDC to prevent yellow fever infections among travelers.
3Please note, the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends avoiding vaccination of infants.
4Recommendations are subject to change at any time if disease conditions change; therefore, CDC encourages travelers to check for relevant travel notices on the website www.cdc.gov/travel prior to departure.
Note: Country requirements are subject to change at any time; therefore, CDC encourages travelers to check with the appropriate embassy or consulate prior to departure.
See full text in http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh5-MalariaYellowFeverTable.aspx
What are the Australian quarantine requirements for yellow fever vaccination?
See full text in http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/Publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-communic-factsheets-yellow.htm
Yellow fever
The period of validity of the International Vaccination Certificate for yellow fever is 10 years, beginning 10 days after primary vaccination and immediately after re-vaccination. Only Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre clinics designated by PHAC can provide the International Certificate of Vaccination in Canada. A list of these centres can be obtained from PHAC's Travel Medicine Program Web site (http://www.travelhealth.gc.ca).
The decision to immunize against yellow fever will depend on the itinerary of the individual traveller and the specific requirements of the country to be visited (including stopovers). As well as being necessary for entry into certain countries, immunization against yellow fever is recommended for all travellers who are visiting or living in countries in Africa and South America where yellow fever infection is officially reported. It is also recommended for travel outside of urban areas in countries that do not officially report yellow fever but lie in the yellow fever endemic zones (see maps).
See full text in http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/cig-gci/p03-10-eng.php
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Yellow Fever vaccination requirements (cont.)
The Ministry of Health confirms the vaccination requirement effective NOVEMBER 1 (sic) in their website and also mentions 3 vaccination posts: - Región Metropolitana de Salud, in Corozal / Los Ríos, building 237; - Sanidad Marítima Internacional office at Cristóbal port, Colón; and - Coordinación Regional de Epidemiología office in David, Chiriquí. http://www.minsa.gob.pa/minsa2008/final_newpage/noticias.php?id=726
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This case is real and happening right now — it’s so hard to believe that the last Will of anyone can be overlooked and turn into such a nightmare. We can only pray that good will prevail over evil. I say hang in there Mr. Lehman! Remember . . .doing the right thing may not always be the most popular — but I pray for your success in this case. Read the 500 page legal exhibit presented to the jury in this case. The panama corruption is obvious. http://www.lucomchildren.com
All Americans should be watching this case.
— Mary Daultry Jun 26, 08:54 AM #