Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Well here we are on Valentine’s Day and the World of Visas in Ecuador is changing faster than we can keep up with it. The new laws were signed into effect but not all have been legally published. Many, many new/old rules.

Visa Angels has been getting visas since 2014 and for 3 years nothing changed and then the big change in 2017 and now this really major change in 2021. We will try to share those changes slowly so people do not get confused. Many facilitators are flooding the media with everything and no one really is understanding what is happening so we will update slowly so you know what we know.

One of the biggest changes is the 180 day extended tourist visa. It is no longer allowed so this means you can come to Ecuador on your free T3 90 day entry visa and you can purchase an additional 90 tourist visa but that is it. You either submit documents for a temporary residential visa or you will leave the country. This also appears to remove the “1 year visa” as it requires (2) 90 day visas and the 180 day visa. It could only be used one time in 5 years but there appears to be no replacement.

Another change which is still not totally clear as several facilitators have posted different numbers. We prefer to wait until it is published so we can print it out and see it all. After getting your permanent visa starting on year 3 you could leave the country for up to 5 years. That is no longer accurate and it is either 2 years or 3 years max. In the past it was 3 years so I think that will most likely be what is again the law.

You can see why we hesitate to publish anything we do not know for fact but one other situation we just encountered was if a single parent comes to Ecuador with a parent named on the birth certificate who is not here, The native country parent must provide the parent living here in Ecuador a power of attorney permitting the child/children to move to Ecuador but also to be able to apply for the required visas. This power of attorney must be obtained from and Ecuadorian Consulate or Embassy. No longer with divorce/custody documents be accepted.

Keep watching as we will share more when we know for sure what the law is allowing.