Since some months ago, the Ecuadorian Government, through the “Ministry of Human Mobility” and the “Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador”, with the support of the IOM https://www.iom.int/, has been developing a platform to process Ecuadorian visas digitally-on line.
For the last three weeks or so, the new system to request any type of visa, temporary or permanent, for dependent visas, Ecuadorian ID card (orden de cedulación) and apostille for Ecuadorian documents, has been working.
Now, some observations:
The apostille for Ecuadorian documents, digital apostille, is not for any kind of documents, only for documents such as: Police Record, Health Certificate (from the Public Health system of Ecuador) and the Certificate of Migratory Movements, which is produced by the Migration Police.
Other types of documents: notarial acts, permits to leave the country with minors and only with one parent, etc, have to be physically apostilled, as they do not have an electronic signature and more details that are no needed to explain here.
Now, the subject that interests us…
The Electronic Visa process.
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Tourist Visa
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Temporary Visa: retiree, rentista, remote worker, investor, volunteer, etc.
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Permanent Visa
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Dependent Visa, etc
It has exactly the same process as doing it the traditional way: gathering documents, picture, apostille of foreign documents or validation…
You create an account on the site, choose the service you want… and proceed with the uploading of the documents.
Now, my personal experience…
On July 17th, I uploaded the process for the temporary visa of a client: picture, apostilled documents, notarized translations made by a certified translator, documents proving his economic income, passport copy, etc…until this moment, Sunday 21st, I have not received an answer, approving or denying the process.
What did catch my attention is the following…. When the process is done in one of the visa offices, an visa official review all the documents, if something is missing, the worker at the visa office guides me on what is needed, if everything is ok, the first payment of usd 50.00 (25.00 if the client is senior) is made as part of the visa process, then, a second personal appointment is generated, to bring the second payment (the visa payment) and the payment of the “orden de cedulación” ID Ecuadorian card.
In the online system, you pay the usd 50.00 (or 25.00) as soon as you upload all the documents to the system, use a debit or credit card… and you receive a confirmation email.
If for some reason the visa, in the virtual system, is denied, that usd 50.00 or usd 25.00 is not reimbursed and when you re-apply for the visa, you have to pay again.
Now, you all know that for some years, I have been helping with the visa process and I have experience in these processes… with this new way of handling the Ecudorian visas… we are presented with two options:
- The traditional one, help my clients through the process, travel to the visa office, present the documents and end up with the digital visa and cédula for our client. This process, until with my client we go to the Registro Civil office, here in Loja, to receive the Cédula, can be a matter of 2 to 4 weeks.
- Option two: I Can guide my clients through the process of uploading all this information into the system, guide them through the necessary documents, even pay for the process and wait…
I am here to help you, virtually or in person, and guide you through the process of obtaining a Temporary or Permanent Residency Visa to live in Ecuador.