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Registered: 11-2005
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Report on meeting with US Ambassador and staff in Bocas yesterday


Yesterday, Ambassador Eaton and several embassy staffers came to meet with US citizens who live in Bocas. About 30 people showed up. Unfortunately, notice of this meeting was not distributed until last Thursday, or else I am sure many more people would have attended.

In the future, someone from the embassy will be coming to Bocas at least once every 90 days, to provide consular services to US citizens and we were promised that a lot more notice would be given next time. Also, the embassy is looking for a volunteer to serve as "warden" and take responsibility for communications between the US Embassy and the US citizens living in Bocas, and asked the people attending to make recommendations.

The first part of the meeting was led by Embassy staffer Mark Kendrick, who answered a lot of questions about tax returns, passports, voting and other matters.

For example: PASSPORT RENEWAL: Several people submitted passport renewal applications. This is an important service that the US embassy provides to US citizens who live in Panama and whose passports will be expiring soon. Normally, you have to come to Panama City to the Albrook office M-F between 8 AM and noon to submit an application for passport renewal, but if you go to one of these quarterly meetings you can do it without leaving Bocas. What you need is to bring your current passport, 2 photocopies of the front page of your passport (the page that has your name, signature, photo and passport number), fill out and sign an application and give them 2 passport size color photos. (They take passport photos at Don Chichos, though the quality is awful, so don't expect to like your photo!!!) Make sure your face is completely uncovered from forehead to chin. They will take the application and if you give them your phone number they will call you when the new passport is ready. You have to either come to Panama City or designate in writing someone authorized to pick up your new passport for you and you have to give that person your old passport so that the embassy can mark it as "expired." It costs $67. If you do it at one of the meetings in Bocas, bring cash as they don't take Panamanian checks. If you go to the embassy you can bring your credit card but if you do it at a Bocas embassy "field trip" meeting, there is no way to accept credit cards.

NOTE: You must come in person, whether its to the Panama City office or to a regional meeting, and you can only renew your own passport. That is because the embassy officer must physically inspect the old passport and compare the photo to you and swear that you are the same person. So you can't do it for a spouse or friend.

IRS FORMS: They also have a few of the most common tax forms, but nothing you can't download from the irs website using your own computer or at an internet cafe. ALso, we were reminded that if we live abroad, we can request a longer extension of time to file our US tax returns.

SOCIAL SECURITY AUTOMATIC DEPOSITS: They were supposed to talk about that, but didn't have much info, but promised to have more information available the next time they came.

VOTING: There was a discussion of how to vote in Panama but I did not take notes and don't remember the specifics. I think its on file in the FILES already either here or in Panama Laws for Expats, though, it varies from state to state. There's a website that has all this on it and I'll look it up again and post the link.

TOWN MEETING: Ambassador Eaton introduced himself and gave a brief presentation of his role and the embassy's role, then opened the meeting up to questions. He was very forthcoming and listened and asked questions about what was discussed and promised to try to help with our concerns. One of the issues that came up was the problem of not being able to use Medicare abroad. He is supportive of our desire to have some kind of Medicare/supplement policy available that we can use in Panama and surprisingly, President Torrijos has discussed this with him! President Torrijos is on our side on this issue, as he is very aware of how important this is to the "residential tourism" population he wants to attract. Mr. Eaton said that he has discussed this with the people at the Health and Human Services dept. in the USA and they were not interested in changing their policy (which allows Medicare supplement plans that can be used abroad only for US military retirees and certain US government retirees), but he promised to continue to discuss it with people in the US government whenever he can.

Many other issues came up, the most recurrent had to do with concerns about legal insecurity with respect to land laws, corruption issues, and the desire that the government might consider relaxing some of the red tape that makes it hard for Americans, such as doctors, dentists and veterinarians to volunteer their services and help the community. Also discussed were concern about environmental issues, particularly sewage problems, infrastructure, and the environmental impact of unrestrained growth particularly in mega-developments, and what might be done about misbehavior by a very small number of Americans that causes embarrassment to the rest of the American community in Bocas. Lack of good quality healthcare in Bocas and alternatives for providing it was also discussed. Some people in attendance also commented that the US Embassy should not continue to maintain a list of lawyers because there is no way to vet the ethics and competence of the lawyers on the list.

Ambassador Eaton also invited and introduced to the group US Peace Corps volunteers working in Bocas and invited us to talk to them to see how we might be able to help their projects.

We were encouraged to contact the US embassy should we have problems or concerns. The email address for the US embassy for US citizens wanting information or help or wishing to provide information to the embassy on matters of concern is:
[email protected]

I can personally represent that emails to this address are now being returned within a couple of days. Your problem or issue will be referred to the right person to help you and someone will contact you.
3/28/2006, 12:45 pm Link to this post Send Email to susangg   Send PM to susangg
 


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