Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa

An Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa is something we need if we want to stay in Ecuador beyond our 2-year temporary resident visa expiration date.

Our temporary resident visa expires in 8 months and we wanted to get a headstart on the permanent resident visa process because it can take awhile to get all the necessary paperwork. It also takes awhile for the Ecuadorian government to approve and issue our permanent resident visas.

Here’s an overview of what you can expect if you’re ready to apply for your Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa.

Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa Requirements

Here is the “current” list of requirements to apply for an Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa. I say “current” because the laws and regulations are constantly changing here in Ecuador, which is why we strongly suggest working with a visa agent like GringoVisas.

Even if you’re fluent in Spanish, which is a requirement to navigate this process by yourself, it’s impossible to stay on top of the frequent changes unless you do this full time and have government connections who can explain them to you.

There are other visa agents in Ecuador and Cuenca like EcuadorVisas.com and Visa Angels Ecuador, but we haven’t worked with them.

Ecuador Temporary Resident Visa

If you’re still in the planning phase of your move to Ecuador, I suggest watching our Ecuador Temporary Resident Visa video first. That’s because the first requirement for an Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa is having a temporary resident visa for at least 21 months.

Fingerprints & Background Checks

We need to get our fingerprints taken at the police station here in Cuenca so they can be used to request new background checks. If you leave Ecuador for even one day during your temporary resident visa period, you must supply new background checks from the FBI and state police back in the States with your permanent resident visa application.

Marriage License

You should register your marriage license with the Ecuadorian ministry. You’ll need a copy of your license and it will need an apostille.  The apostille date needs to be less than 6 months from the date of the application. Your visa agent can help you with this process.

Specific Visa Type Requirements

There are several different types of Ecuador Visas, and the requirements vary depending on the type you have.

Professional Visa

We’re here in Ecuador on a Professional Visa, which means we still work, have regular income from outside Ecuador, and a degree from an approved university.

Amelia has a degree from The University of Phoenix, but that university degree is not accepted by Ecuador because the majority of classes were taken online.

I went to the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk) for both my bachelors and masters degrees. When I graduated in the 90’s, online courses weren’t a thing yet, so I took all my classes in-person.

This all means Amelia is here on a dependent visa that’s attached to my professional visa.

Since we had my degree certified and apostilled for our temporary resident visa, we don’t need to have that done again. It’s already on record with the ministry and attached to my name.

Investor Visa

If you purchased a bank CD to get your temporary resident visa, you’ll need to renew that CD for another 2 to 3 years, or as long as you plan to live in Ecuador with your permanent resident visa. Once you leave or become a citizen, you no longer need the bank CD and can withdraw the money.

Pensioners Visa

If you have a temporary resident pensioners visa, you’ll need to get a new copy of your pension letter stating your income.

Dependent Visa

As I mentioned, Amelia is here on a dependent visa attached to my professional visa. That means she can’t apply for her permanent resident dependent visa until I get my permanent resident professional visa.

The same was true for her temporary resident visa, which is why her temporary visa expiration date is 2 months after mine. We were able to submit our temporary resident visa applications at the same time, but the approval process for Amelia’s dependent visa didn’t start until my professional visa was issued.

We’re going to submit my permanent resident visa application during the last week of October since mine expires the last week of January. We’ll submit Amelia’s application in the middle of December since her visa expires in the middle of March.

Other Visas

The other types of Ecuador visas are work visa, volunteer visa, student visa, rentista visa and industrial investor visa. These visa types are only temporary visa options. They aren’t available visa types for permanent resident visas.

Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa Ministry Fees

The Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa has two primary fees. The permanent resident visa application fee is $50 per application and is non-refundable. If your visa application is approved, the permanent resident visa fee is $225 per person.

Ecuador Permanent Visa Process

It’s VERY important to get an early start on your Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa application process. If you miss the window to file, which is between 21 and 24 months from the issue date of your temporary resident visa, you may need to apply for another temporary resident visa. That would restart the clock and you would need to wait another 21 months to apply for a permanent resident visa.

It can take 2 to 3 months to get the background checks done in the US and mailed to Ecuador, which is why visa agents suggest starting this process 5 to 6 months before your visa expires. Your temporary resident visa is good for 2 years exactly, so that means you need to start the process around month 18.

Step 1: Fingerprints

The first step in the process of getting your Ecuador Permanent Resident Visa is getting your fingerprints taken. Maite scheduled an appointment at the police station here in Cuenca to get our fingerprints taken.

We had them taken here in Cuenca Ecuador on our exploratory trip 2 years ago for our temporary resident visa application, but the ministry doesn’t keep them on file unless you commit a crime. Therefore, we have to get our fingerprints taken again at the police station so they can be used to request new background checks.

Step 2: Background Check

Once we have our fingerprint forms, Maite’s team will request the background checks from the FBI and state police back in the US.

Step 3: Visa Specific Requirements

Professional Visa

You need to request a notarized diploma, transcript and the official university letter stating your documents are real. Then it needs to have  apostilled.

Dependent Visa

If you are in Ecuador on a temporary resident dependent visa and you didn’t register your marriage with the Ecuadorian government, you’ll need to get your marriage license re-apostilled to submit with your permanent resident dependent visa application.

Investor Visa

For the investor visa, you’ll need to renew your bank CD for another 2 or 3 years.

Pensioner Visa

You need to request a new letter stating your monthly income.

Step 4: Request an Appointment with the Ministry

You can go to any of the ministry offices in Ecuador to submit your application, but some have longer waits than others. Cuenca is one of the busiest offices in Ecuador so it can take 3 to 4 months just to get an appointment date to submit your application.

We went to Machala on the coast to submit our temporary visa application because the wait for an appointment was only 2 weeks. Machala is about 3 to 4 hours from Cuenca, so a lot of people go to Azogues, which is about 30 minutes from Cuenca. However, Azogues also has much longer wait times than Machala.

Right now, the long waits are mainly due to the influx of Venezuelan refugees. The Ecuadorian government is prioritizing them so they’re able to work legally to support themselves and their families.

Step 5: Fill Out and Notarize the Visa Application Form

The visa application form is in Spanish and must be filled out in Spanish. Once it’s filled out, you’ll need to go to a notary here in Ecuador to have it notarized. You need to sign the application in front of the notary after showing him or her your passport or cedula as identification.

Step 6: Submit Your Application

Once you have your completed visa application form and all the other required documentation, you’ll go to the ministry office on the date of your appointment to submit your application. You’ll need your passport and potentially your cedula (that’s your government ID card, similar to a driver’s license). I recommend taking them both.

Step 7: Wait

We submitted my temporary visa application at the end of October when we first arrived in Ecuador, but didn’t receive it until the end of January. It took 3 months to get approved and printed. We’re expecting a similar timeframe for the permanent resident visa.

Maite said if the permanent resident visa takes longer than 3 months to get approved and issued, which would push us beyond the 2 year limit of our temporary resident visa, there won’t be a problem because the clock stops ticking once the application is submitted (not when the visa is issued).

Due to the constantly changing laws and delays when we applied for our temporary resident visas, we were here in Ecuador for several months beyond our 3-month tourist visa without our temporary resident visa. Since the application was in-process, we technically weren’t illegal aliens, but it sure felt like we were! Thankfully we didn’t need to leave the country during that small window or it might have been difficult to get back in.

Step 8: Get Your Visa from the Ministry

Once your visa is approved, the government prints a visa sticker that must be applied to one of the pages in your passport by a government official at the ministry office where you submitted your application.

For my temporary visa, Maite took my passport to Machala to get the sticker on one of her weekly trips. She did the same thing for Amelia so we didn’t need to take the long trek back to Machala to get them.

Step 9: Get a New Cédula

After we received our temporary resident visa, we took it to the government office here in Cuenca to get our cédula, which is our official Ecuador ID card. It looks like a driver’s license, only it doesn’t allow us to drive.

Once we receive our new permanent resident visa, we’ll need to get a new cédula because our old cédula says we’re on a temporary visa.

Final Thoughts

You can continue to renew your temporary residency visa without ever getting a permanent visa, but the main benefit of getting a permanent visa is that you don’t need to renew it every two years and you only need to be in Ecuador one day every two years to maintain it.

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