BRIEFS. immigration

Overstay your visa and you can’t come back

Foreigners deported for spending more time in Panama than officially permitted will be fined and prevented from returning to the country, according to immigration director, Clovis Sinisterra.

In a public statement, Sinisterra said anyone who has been deported and who later tries to enter the country will be detected by an immigration security system that reveals their names to immigration officials at their attempted point of entry, including Tocumen airport and along the Costan Rican border.

He said the system resulted in the deportation of 263 people of various nationalities this last weekend, the majority of whom had overstayed their original 30-day tourist visas and 30-day extensions.