UPDATE 2019: Note that while the below information is generally correct, some of the Ecuadorian laws have changed. You should consult an Ecuadorian attorney for the latest visa requirements.
Getting an Ecuador visa for residency isn’t hard, it just takes patience and time (and, of course, money). Our goal was to get our Visa’s while still in the US. We hired a lawyer in Ecuador to help us with the process. Many people say you can do all of this yourself, but we didn’t want any mishaps in Ecuador. With the laws changing constantly and our not so good command of the language, we were happy to pay the fee for a less stressful process. My advice is to pay for the extra services to make the entire process so much easier. Just include this as a cost of living abroad.
The first step is to get the paperwork together and submit it. This first step is a big one. But if you just stay organized, use the expedited services, it’s really not difficult. We needed a marriage certificate, birth certificates, FBI background checks, state police background checks and college degree and transcripts. There are a few different Ecuador visa’s for residency you can obtain. Our Ecuador Visa was a professional Visa. It required a little extra work regarding the university where we got our degree. Yours may require proof of retirement income or money for a bank CD in the country of choosing.
We paid for expediting services where possible to simplify the process. We used these services to get our birth certificates, marriage license, and FBI background checks. It took between 1 and two weeks to get all of these documents. The documents had to have the apostille certificate. We thought it best to use a service to help us with this. All took about one week additional.
The documents that took the longest to get were from the University. We had to send in extra paperwork (actually the Ecuadorian lawyer did) to get the school approved since it was not already on the approved list. We needed the diploma, the transcripts and a letter from the university registrar stating how we attended classes. What they want to know was if we attended in person or if it was a remote study type school. They instituted this new rule midway through our process. One reason we hired a lawyer to assist was that the rules change often, and lawyers must stay abreast of any new ones.
Now that we had assembled all the required paperwork (easier while in your home country), we scanned and emailed copies to our Ecuadorian lawyer. She reviewed everything to make sure it was right. Once she gave us the OK, we sent all of the originals to her via FedEx and FedEx delivered it in 2 days at a cost of $85.
It took about two months for the school to get approved. Then our lawyer submitted our Ecuador visa for residency application. In about another two months, we got a notice that our visas were ready to be picked up at the nearest Ecuadorian consulate office (in our case, Los Angeles). The process at the office was simple but time-consuming. Because they were very busy, it took us two trips to get the visa stamps in our passports.
Your residency visas don’t get “activated” until you enter Ecuador. The only thing you do differently from a regular visit is when you fill out the customs form on the plane, instead of putting tourist for visa type, you put resident.
There is one final step to completing the Ecuador visa process, and that’s a trip to the immigration office where they record where you are living. We again did that visit with our lawyer.
That’s it! Not really hard. You just need to be patient and decide how much you want to do on your own or if you don’t mind paying for some expert help along the way. My advice, pay the money. After all, retirement or living abroad is supposed to be fun and less stressful.
Find out about getting an Ecuador Cedula here.
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Does this mean you will be receiving pension once you are a resident?
D
No Lidiia, I do not have a pension. I will eventually get social security but for now we will live off of savings.
Hello Keith, I am still in Quito but will be back in Germany in two weeks. Because I feel a better life here I am considering moving here. Am turninng 25 and will probably make the whole process by myself. Your information will help me doing this, thank you (:
Wow, that sounds great Lawrence. If you have any questions, feel free to email us. Good Luck
What were the Lawyer's costs? We need some idea of what amount to budget for Pensioner's visas for my wife and I. What law firm did you use?
Thank you,
It's around $1500 per person for everything including your cedula. Well worth it for us. Email me if you have any other questions. Good luck.
Hi Keith and Tina. It was good to read all about your travels. Me and my husband are planning to travel to Cuenca soon. We have traveled extensively all around the world before as well. I am applying for an English teaching position there and am getting good responses. They pay about $1,200-$1,300 per month. My husband will not be teaching but would like to take on some kind of job. He has a medical background, laboratory to be exact. Do you think this salary is enough for a couple of live comfortable in Cuenca? My husband is 51 and I am 47. I would appreciate your input in this matter.
Thanks
Atiya
Hi Atiya,
Yes, you could live here for $1,200-$1,300 a month. You would have to find a rental house or apartment between $400-$700 and then you would be fine. There are lots of places in that price range. As far as your husband working here, that may be tough. He would most likely have to know some Spanish. I'm not 100% certain so he'd have to do some investigating. One other thing to consider regarding teaching... if you taught online to the Asian countries, you could make double the salary. The only caveat is that you'd have to get up very early in the morning (4 am) to meet the time needs of Asia. I'm going to email you directly with some more information.
Thanks
Oh, btw we live in Toronto, Canada
Cheers
Atiya
Hi Lawrence. I'm glad you found my information helpful. If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to email me. We love to help people make the move abroad. Take care.. Keith & Tina
Thanks George. I'm glad you found it helpful.
The lawyer costs were about $1500 per person. This doesn't include the fee charged by Ecuador for the Visa. I believe that went up since we applied. It was $300 per person for us. We used Sara Chaca and was very happy. Her website is http://ecuadorvisas.com/. Just contact her for the latest costs.
Hi Lidiia, as a resident of Ecuador, you do not qualify for their pension. You can, however, become a citizen after 3 years and if you pay into the Ecuadorian pension system, can be eligible. I hope that was your question. If not, please clarify and I'll do my best to answer. Thanks