Citizenship by birth in Panama

Article 9, numeral 1, lists those born in the national territory first among Panamanians by birth. The text does not exclude children of foreigners, of diplomats or of people passing through, and no rule we have read restricts it.

Source: Constitution of the Republic of Panama, article 9, numeral 1

The Civil Registry records the births that occur in the territory of the Republic. The registration is what proves the nationality, so a child born in Panama is registered there whatever the nationality of the parents.

Source: Law 31 of 2006 on the Civil Registry, article 30

Your child born in Panama is Panamanian, but that does not make you Panamanian. For the three-year naturalization route, the Constitution asks for children born in Panama to a Panamanian father or mother, so a child of two foreign parents does not shorten the parents’ wait.

Source: Constitution of the Republic of Panama, article 10, numeral 2

• Whether people born in the former Canal Zone are Panamanian by birth. An Electoral Tribunal regulation of 2008 sets a procedure to register those births, but it does not say who is Panamanian, and whether it is still applied has not been confirmed.
• The rule for people born before 1972, whose nationality may be governed by the constitution in force when they were born.
• The US citizenship of people born in the Canal Zone, which is a matter of US law.

• Citizenship by descent
• The 3-year route through marriage
• Who can apply