Boarder run

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Donna O'Brien October 22, 2016 at 1:09pm

Is this 72 hours a solid requirement? We want to cross at Rio Sereno and go to San Vito for the night. I can't be gone 3 days!
- Sheila > Donna O'Brien November 6, 2016 at 12:17pm
  
  Goofy Panamanian economics. They are sending people into Costa Rica for 3 nights to spend money there instead of in Panama. You would think they would want people to exit and then come right back in. Instead people are spending $200 to $300 in Costa Rica that Panama could have in their local economy. I wonder how many people are skipping dinners out etc, to save money for the long border runs.
  - Concerned > Sheila November 6, 2016 at 1:52pm
    
    Costa Rica does exactly the same, vice versa. Expats cross the border into Panama from Costa Rica for 3 days/nights before heading back.
    Panama and Costa Rica are keeping things even.
    - JugHead > Concerned November 9, 2016 at 5:43am
      
      Yeah, I don't see it as too goofy. They keep a far better handle on it that we do in the US. If only we had half this level of grasp on our situation.
- kristin bliss > Donna O'Brien October 28, 2016 at 11:24am
  
  Do you, by any chance know if there are buses from Plaza San Francisco to Rio Sereno/San Vito?
  - Keith Woolford > kristin bliss October 28, 2016 at 7:11pm
    
    Yes, you could take the southbound bus from Plaza San Francisco to David and change buses at the Terminal.
- Floyd R. Turbo > Donna O'Brien October 22, 2016 at 1:23pm
  
  I crossed at Rio Sereno earlier this year, and yes it is 3 nights (not 72 hrs, which I never experienced). Also they are very strict on you having your airfare ticket paid for, they do check.
  
  So to summarize, I experienced the strict 3 nights requirement this year at both Rio Sereno and Paso Canoas and the 72 hrs thing is a misconception as posted earlier. Just to note, this 72 hrs thing has been knocked around on this site for several years. Do your homework! Also the term "solid requirement" isn't really a concept in Panama. Their regs are ad hoc and they don't follow their own laws.
Robert Berding October 21, 2016 at 6:13pm

Same happened to us mid July.
Robert Berding October 21, 2016 at 8:59am

Yes 72 hours. Bus ticket needed?. If you have a car, show them the papers and tell them that you parked it at the Panamanian side. We did it on July 12th.
- Floyd R. Turbo > Robert Berding October 21, 2016 at 10:35am
  
  OK, I did the border hop 3 wks ago. It is not 72 hrs out, or 3 days. It is 3 nights. I tried to come back after being in CR on 3 different dates, for example 9/23, 9/24, and 9/25 (only spending the night of 9/23 and 9/24 in CR. NO GO! Panama said I needed one more night out. I was out 65 hours.
  
  BTW there is no law regarding 72 hrs out, except for qualifying for the $2000 duty free exemption.
  
  Also, this is what applied to me on that date, for me. YMMV, however it matched my previous experiences.
  
  Also no law requiring return ticket to your country of origin (I looked it up).
  
  I am suspicious of who benefits from this juega vivo.
  
  Hopefully my pensionado will come thru and I won't have to put up with this arbitrary crap.
  
  Question, just out of curiosity. I have a new US passport with a new number and no stamps. How will Panama Migration or the transito for that matter know how long I have been in Panama?

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