This site does not promise approvals, timelines, or tax outcomes. Residency decisions depend on factors that change by country, by year, and by individual situation.
The focus here is on helping you understand whether this path fits your goals - and what rarely gets mentioned upfront - before you commit.
The Problem with Promises
The residency industry is full of guarantees. "Approved in 90 days." "Tax-free income." "Permanent residency guaranteed."
These claims sell well. They also create misalignment.
When someone promises you an outcome they don't control, one of two things is happening: they're either oversimplifying a complex process, or they're telling you what you want to hear to close a sale.
Neither serves you well.
The people making these guarantees are typically middlemen. They don't work at the immigration office. They don't set policy. They don't review applications. They collect a fee and submit paperwork on your behalf. The outcome is determined by a government official they've never met, applying rules they didn't write, on a timeline they can't influence.
That's not a criticism of the work itself - document preparation and legal filing are valuable services. The criticism is pretending that filing paperwork is the same as controlling the result.
What Actually Determines Outcomes
Residency applications involve multiple parties with different incentives and constraints.
Government agencies.Government agencies. Immigration offices have their own timelines, staffing levels, and policy interpretations. These change without notice. A backlog at one office can add months to processing. A new director can reinterpret eligibility criteria overnight. Panama's immigration office has been known to pause entire visa categories while updating internal procedures.
Legal requirements.Legal requirements. Document requirements, financial thresholds, and eligibility criteria evolve. What worked last year may not work this year. Paraguay eliminated its $5,000 bank deposit requirement in 2024. Panama's Friendly Nations list changes periodically. Apostille requirements vary by country and shift based on international agreements.
Your specific situation.Your specific situation. Your nationality, source of funds, family structure, criminal record, travel history, and dozens of other factors affect how your application is processed. Two people applying for the same visa on the same day can have completely different experiences based on their individual profiles.
External factors.External factors. Currency fluctuations affect investment thresholds. Political changes shift immigration priorities. Global events like COVID rewrote processing timelines overnight. Trade tensions between countries can quietly alter how nationals from certain countries are treated at immigration counters.
No advisor controls these variables. Anyone who claims otherwise is either uninformed or dishonest.
The Industry Nobody Regulates
Here's something most consultants won't tell you: the international residency consulting space has essentially no regulation.
Anyone can set up a website, call themselves an immigration consultant, and start collecting fees. There's no licensing board. No mandatory certifications. No industry watchdog. No standardized fee structure. No required disclosures.
In most countries, only licensed attorneys can file immigration paperwork on your behalf. But the consulting layer - the person who tells you which program to pursue, which country fits your situation, what documents you'll need - operates in a gray area with minimal oversight.
This creates predictable problems. Consultants who earn commissions from specific programs will recommend those programs regardless of fit. Firms that partner with one country's legal team will steer you there even if another country serves you better. Operations that charge flat fees upfront have no financial incentive to ensure your application succeeds - they've already been paid.
We're not claiming to be the exception to human nature. We're saying the structure of the industry makes it important for you to understand what you're buying before you buy it.
What We Actually Do
Plan B Expat operates as a pre-engagement advisory service. That means we work with you before you hire a lawyer, before you commit funds, and before you sign anything.
Assessment.Assessment. We start by understanding your specific situation, goals, timeline, budget, and constraints. Not every program fits every person. Not every country makes sense for every lifestyle. A retiree with pension income has different options than a freelancer with an LLC. A family with school-age children faces different tradeoffs than a solo remote worker.
Education.Education. We explain how residency programs actually work, including the parts that marketing materials leave out. Processing delays. Hidden costs. Maintenance requirements. Annual filings. The difference between temporary and permanent residency. What "territorial taxation" actually means in practice versus what blogs claim it means.
Preparation.Preparation. We help you understand what documents you'll need, what they cost, how long they take to obtain, and what complications commonly arise. An expired apostille can delay your application by weeks. A missing document can require an entirely new trip to your home country. We walk you through this before you're on a plane with a folder of paperwork.
Introductions.Introductions. When you're ready to move forward, we connect you with vetted local attorneys in Paraguay or Panama who handle the actual legal filing. We've worked with these lawyers. We know their track records, their communication styles, and their fee structures. You hire them directly - we don't take a cut of their fees.
Realistic expectations.Realistic expectations. We tell you what's likely, what's uncertain, and what could go wrong. If a program doesn't fit your situation, we'll say so. If you're better served by a country we don't cover, we'll tell you that too.
What We Don't Do
We don't file immigration paperwork.We don't file immigration paperwork. Licensed attorneys handle legal filings. We're not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.
We don't guarantee outcomes.We don't guarantee outcomes. We can't promise approval timelines, tax results, or specific immigration decisions. Nobody honestly can.
We don't handle your money.We don't handle your money. Investment funds for visa programs go directly to the relevant institution - a bank, a real estate escrow, a reforestation project. We never touch client funds.
We don't push programs that don't fit.We don't push programs that don't fit. If Paraguay doesn't make sense for your situation, we won't sell you Paraguay. If Panama's investment threshold exceeds your budget, we won't pretend there's a workaround.
We don't disappear after payment.We don't disappear after payment. The consulting relationship doesn't end when you pay. We remain available through your process and answer questions as they come up.
What This Means in Practice
If you contact Plan B Expat expecting a guarantee, you'll be disappointed.
If you're looking for someone to tell you exactly what will happen and when, this isn't the right fit.
If someone else is offering you certainty, ask them: what happens when the outcome doesn't match the promise? Do they refund your fee? Do they re-file at no cost? Do they cover your additional travel expenses? In most cases, the guarantee evaporates the moment you need it.
But if you want to understand whether a second residency actually makes sense for your situation, what the real requirements and timelines look like, what complications often arise that nobody mentions upfront, and how to evaluate whether a program fits your goals - that's what we do.
The initial consultation is free. Thirty minutes focused on your specific situation. No sales pitch, no pressure, no obligation.
The Cost of Bad Advice
Bad residency advice isn't just inconvenient. It's expensive.
A client who chooses the wrong visa category wastes months of processing time and thousands in legal fees before discovering the error. A family that moves to a country based on tax claims that turn out to be inaccurate faces unexpected liabilities. Someone who invests $300,000 in Panama real estate for a Qualified Investor Visa, only to discover their nationality creates complications they weren't warned about, has limited recourse.
We've spoken with people who spent $15,000 or more with consultants who promised seamless processes, only to find themselves stuck in bureaucratic limbo with no clear path forward and no refund policy.
The most expensive advice is confident advice that turns out to be wrong.
This is why we focus on clarity before commitment. Understanding the full picture - including the uncertainties - costs you nothing upfront and can save you tens of thousands in mistakes.
How Our Process Protects You
The advisory model exists specifically to reduce your risk.
You don't pay for legal services until you understand what you're buying.You don't pay for legal services until you understand what you're buying. The consultation is free. The educational phase costs you nothing but time. By the time you're ready to engage an attorney, you know exactly what the process involves, what it costs, and what the realistic timeline looks like.
You hire the attorney directly.You hire the attorney directly. There's no middleman markup on legal fees. The lawyer works for you, not for us. If you're unhappy with their service, you have a direct relationship to manage.
You get multiple perspectives.You get multiple perspectives. We cover both Paraguay and Panama. We'll tell you which one fits better, or if neither does. We're not locked into recommending one country because that's our only revenue source.
You keep control of your money.You keep control of your money. Investment funds, deposits, and fees go directly to the relevant institutions. We never hold, manage, or have access to your capital.
You get honest timelines.You get honest timelines. When we say processing takes 4-6 months, that's based on current experience with recent applications. Not a marketing number from three years ago. Not a best-case scenario. A realistic range that accounts for normal delays.
When This Isn't the Right Fit
Full transparency: our approach isn't for everyone.
If you want someone to handle everything and you don't want to understand the process yourself, you might prefer a full-service firm that manages the entire application. Those exist. They cost more, and you're placing more trust in a single entity, but some people prefer that model.
If you're in a rush and need residency filed immediately, you may want to go directly to a local attorney. We can still provide a referral, but our assessment process takes time, and skipping it means accepting whatever a lawyer recommends without independent evaluation.
If you're looking for tax advice, we're not accountants or tax lawyers. We explain how territorial tax systems work at a general level, but specific tax planning requires professionals licensed in your home country and your destination country.
If your budget is under $5,000 total including legal fees, Paraguay may still work for you, but the economics of consulting become tight. We're honest about that.
The Value of Clarity
Residency decisions have lasting implications. The wrong choice can cost years and significant money. The right choice, properly executed, can provide genuine optionality - a second home, tax efficiency, a backup plan, a new chapter.
The difference often comes down to clarity before commitment.
Understanding what you're getting into - including the uncertainties - is more valuable than false confidence based on promises someone can't keep.
This is the approach Plan B Expat takes. Not because it's easier to market, but because it's what actually serves people considering this path.
Ready to explore whether a second residency fits your goals?Ready to explore whether a second residency fits your goals? A free 30-minute consultation focuses on your specific situation - not sales pitches. Book at planbexpat.com/get-started
*Last updated: February 2026. This is not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Consult licensed professionals for your specific situation.*
