GayExpatPanama.com · Start Here
Everything you need to know before you move to Panama
One honest, LGBTQ+-centered guide. No brochure language. No boilerplate assurances. Just the real picture — written by gay expats, for gay expats.
A Complete Guide to Moving to Panama for LGBTQ+ Expats
The guide we wish we’d had when we started asking questions
You’ve probably already found the generic expat sites. They’ll tell you Panama is “affordable and expat-friendly.” They won’t tell you what it’s actually like to be gay there — whether you can hold hands in public, whether your partner has any legal standing in a medical emergency, or where the community actually lives.
This guide does. It covers everything the standard guides cover — visas, costs, healthcare, banking — but does so with your specific concerns at the center.
What’s inside the guide
From readers
“Finally — an expat guide that doesn’t make me feel like an afterthought. The section on legal protections alone was worth it.”
— Reader in Atlanta, considering a move in 2026“We’ve been going back and forth on Panama for two years. This is the first resource that gave us a real answer instead of a sales pitch.”
— Reader couple in SeattleGet the free guide
Enter your email and we’ll send it right to your inbox — no waiting, no sales call.
Who this guide is for
About GayExpatPanama.com
We’re two gay Americans who’ve been through the process of building a life abroad before — and are doing it again. We built a bar on the Mediterranean in 2007. Then 2008 happened. We know what it looks like when an international move goes wrong, and we know what it takes to do it right.
GayExpatPanama.com exists because we couldn’t find a resource that treated LGBTQ+ expats as the primary audience — not an afterthought. Everything here is written with your specific concerns at the center: safety, community, legal standing, and the social reality of being openly gay in a country that hasn’t yet caught up legislatively.
We read every message. If you have a question the guide doesn’t answer, ask us directly.
Prefer to browse first? Start with Is Panama Right for You? — our most-read foundational article. Or head to the contact page and send us your questions directly.
