In just 24 hours, the National Migration Service (SNM) received (some 4,000 applications for the "temporary protection permit", an alternative put in place to grant status to irregular migrants, for a non-extendable period of two years.

On Monday, July 17, the same day the program was launched the avalanche of registration requests the SNM received was such that the quotas for face-to-face interviews for the first two weeks of August were exhausted.

When the Cortizo administration began in July 2019, it was decided to stop this type of temporary immigration status permit, known until then as "Crisol de Razas" and its variants.

The new version of the temporary permit will supposedly be valid until July 2024.

The program is aimed at foreigners, regardless of nationality, who have been in the country for one year and who have not carried out any procedure to regularize their situation. The beneficiaries will be able to reside in the territory of the Republic of Panama for two years, complying with the tax, social security, health and legal obligations in general, which their activity demands.

The SNM says that the permit is intended to provide protection to the irregular migrant population that is in a condition of vulnerability, subject to risks and dangers in the face of the smuggling of migrants and different forms of human trafficking.

The national deputy director of the SNM, María Isabel Saravia, estimates that some 200,000 migrants, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, could benefit from the new program.

The amounts collected for immigration services will be used for social assistance and security. 70% will be assigned to the Ministry of the Presidency and the remaining 30% will go to the "Special Fund for the Development of Human Resources" of the National Migration Service.

Criticism
The fact that 70% of the amounts collected are for the Presidency of the Republic, until recently in charge of the vice president and presidential candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), José Gabriel Carrizo, has generated criticism.

The economist and professor Maribel Gordón, presidential candidate for free application, stressed that a program related to the human rights of migrants has become an alternative to have access to more financial resources.

The lawyer and also a candidate for free application, Francisco Carreira, pointed out that the measure seeks to turn the issue of foreigners into a cash register again.