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    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

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    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
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    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
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    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

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Home Countries Ecuador

Why The Ecuador Residency Requirements Are The Easiest In The World

Important News About Residency Options In Ecuador

by Lief Simon
May 26, 2022
in Ecuador
0 0
Cuenca, taxes in ecuador

Adobe Stock/mehdi33300

Important news from Ecuador…

This country’s residency program just got better.

Under new regulations that took effect March 10, 2022, Ecuador‘s residency program qualifies as one of the best in the world…

And one of the easiest paths to citizenship.

Here are the highlights…

Ecuador offers a temporary resident visa to start, from which you can move on to a permanent resident visa.

The country now offers a remote worker’s temporary visa, called Rentista Para Trabajo Remoto, for digital nomads.

Ecuador still has time-in-country requirements for new residents, but they now allow you to violate those limits provided you pay a fine.

In some cases, you can skip temporary residency altogether and go directly to permanent residency.

You can now be absent from Ecuador for up to two years as a permanent resident, without losing your permanent residency.

Free importation of household effects is still allowed for new residents.

If you are a multi-country citizen, you can apply for residency using any of your passports.

Health insurance is now required for residents… unless you opt in to the Ecuadorian Social Security system.

Amazingly, the right to vote and to hold public office has been granted to non-citizen residents of Ecuador.

Citizens of most countries—including America, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand—can enter Ecuador as a tourist without a visa. To explore Ecuador initially, this tourist entry does the trick. Ecuadorian Immigration typically will stamp your passport with a tourist visa that allows you up to 90 days in the country, but you should check the stamp to make sure before you leave the agent.

You can extend your 90-day stay one time, for as many as an additional 90 days.

In addition to the general requirements, including a background check, here are the specific requirements for each visa type:

For A Rentista Visa

  • Proof of legal income—sufficient to support you and your family. This income can be active or passive, from outside of Ecuador or from within Ecuador. The minimum required income is three times the Ecuadorian minimum wage. For 2022, this works out to US$1,275 per month.
  • An additional US$250 per month is required for each dependent.

For A Rentista Para Trabajo Remoto (Remote Worker’s) Visa

  • Proof of legal income, sufficient to support you and your family. This income must be from outside Ecuador. The minimum required income is three times the minimum wage, over the previous three months. For 2022, this works out to US$1,275 per month. Alternatively, you can show an income of 36 times the minimum wage over the past year, by showing bank statements. That’s US$15,300 for 2022.
  • An additional US$250 per month is required for each dependent.
  • You must show evidence that your employer or your clients are outside Ecuador.
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For A Jubilado (Retiree) Visa

  • Proof of retirement income, sufficient to support you and your family. The minimum required income is three times the minimum wage. For 2022, that works out to US$1,275 per month.
  • A document from the entity that is paying your pension or Social Security, showing what you’ll receive each month.
  • An additional US$250 per month is required for each dependent.

For An Inversionista (Investor) Visa

  • As of this year, the required investment for each type of investor visa is the same: 100 times the monthly minimum wage. For 2022, this is US$42,500.

That’s a global bargain.

Here are the most common types of investments used by expats to qualify for an investor visa:

  • A certificate of deposit (CD): You must show that it’s contracted through an Ecuadorian bank for a period of at least 730 days…
  • Ecuadorian real estate: You’ll need to present the property title, showing an assessed value of at least 100 times the minimum wage. If the property is jointly owned, then the applicant’s half must be worth the required minimum…
  • Shares of an Ecuadorian company valued at the required minimum.

You can swap your investment if you decide you’d like to.

For example, you could substitute one property for another to support your visa or substitute a CD for a property. This requires prior authorization from Immigration.

You can liquidate your investment when you obtain permanent residency.

If you have the income to qualify for a Rentista or Jubilado visa, I’d recommend against the Investor Visa. The income for an income-based visa needs to be proven only once… while the Investor Visa remains dependent on your investment for the visa’s life, including all renewals.

If you have a temporary resident visa, you can be absent from Ecuador no more than a cumulative total of 90 days per year. They will forgive one violation of this rule, provided you pay a fine of three times Ecuador‘s minimum wage. For 2022, the fine would be US$1,275.

However, if you’re going to convert to permanent residency, you cannot be absent from Ecuador for more than 90 days during your entire temporary visa period (21 to 24 months).

To Be Eligible For Permanent Residency, You Must Be:

  • The holder of a temporary resident visa, for at least 21 months;
  • Married to (or have a civil union with) an Ecuadorian citizen or permanent resident;
  • A minor or disabled person who is dependent on an Ecuadorian citizen or permanent resident;
  • Related to an Ecuadorian citizen or permanent resident, by at least the second degree of consanguinity or affinity.

Ecuador has one of the world’s quickest citizenship programs. You can be naturalized after just three years of residency… or after just two years if you marry an Ecuadorian citizen.

Lief Simon
Editor, Offshore Living Letter

Tags: ecuador citizenshipecuador residencyecuador visalive in EcuadorMove to EcuadorRetire In Ecuador
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Lief Simon

Lief Simon

Lief Simon has lived and worked in 7 countries on 5 continents and traveled to more than 75 countries. His real estate investment career began with a $5,000 down payment on a three-flat building in Chicago. Less than three years later, Lief sold the building for a leveraged return of 3,000%—$150,000 in profit after closing costs and commissions.

From there, he turned his attention overseas and has bought property in 24 countries including France, Croatia, Portugal, Ireland, Belize, Spain, Argentina, Cyprus, Romania, and beyond. Thanks to his decades-long career as a global property investor, Lief has built a multi-million-dollar portfolio that includes rental properties, significant land holdings, and 7 personal residences.

Lief has established residency in 3 countries and acquired a second passport from Ireland.

In 2008 Lief and wife Kathleen Peddicord made the most important investment of their lives—a 215-acre oceanside finca, known as Los Islotes. There, on Panama’s largely undiscovered Veraguas coast, they’ve installed underground electricity, water, and internet and built a forever family home that sits at the heart of their ultimate vision: a gold standard private residential community for those in search of a true safe haven escape.

Lief’s latest book, “Cowboy Millionaire—The New American Pioneer,” collects all the wisdom he has learned in three decades of living and investing outside America.

He offers advice on international diversification in his twice-weekly Offshore Living Letter and monthly Simon Letter dispatches. For real estate investment opportunities, check out his monthly Global Property Advisor service.

If you’d like to meet Lief in person, join him for one of our upcoming in-country conferences. You’ll find further details here.

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  • Hua Hin, Thailand
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