Ecuador digital nomad visa

Requirements

• Monthly income of at least $1,446 (three Unified Basic Salaries), shown for the three months before applying
• Remote work as an employee, freelancer, or business owner based outside Ecuador
• Valid passport (6+ months validity)
• Health insurance with coverage in Ecuador
• Clean criminal record

How to apply

1. Confirm your income meets the ~$1,446/month threshold over the prior three months
2. Gather documents: passport, proof of foreign income/employment, health insurance, criminal record
3. Book a visa appointment at an Ecuadorian embassy or consulate — you must apply before entering Ecuador
4. Attend the appointment to verify your identity and documents, and pay the visa fees (about $450)
5. Receive the visa, valid 12 months and renewable for a second year (two years total)

Renewal and long-term stay

• Renewable: yes
• Path to permanent residency: yes, after 2 years of residence
• Path to citizenship: yes, after 5 years

Two years, renewable in two-year blocks for as long as you still qualify — and unusually among nomad routes, it genuinely settles you. Permanent residency opens at 21 months of physical residence, and naturalisation after roughly three further years of permanent residency. The constraint is presence, not paperwork: as a temporary resident you may be outside Ecuador no more than 90 days per calendar year, and unused days don't roll over. That rules it out as a base for heavy travellers.

Applying: where and how

• Income requirement as published: $1,446 per month (3× the Ecuadorian minimum wage)

Tax

• You become tax resident: after 183 days in the country
• Foreign income taxed locally: no — foreign-earned income is not taxed locally
• Special nomad or expat tax regime: yes — see below

Ecuador taxes territorially: foreign-sourced income is fully exempt, and only Ecuador-source income (local work, local business, rent on Ecuadorian property) is taxed at 0–35%. Combined with the residency route this is the strongest pairing in our dataset — few countries offer both a real path to settlement and no tax on foreign earnings. Document your foreign sourcing properly for the SRI, and remember the flip side of residency: no more than 90 days outside Ecuador per calendar year.

This summarises published rules, not your situation, and it is not tax advice. Two things it can't tell you: your home country may tax you anyway — US citizens are taxed on worldwide income wherever they live — and day-count is only the most common trigger for tax residency, not the only one. Having a permanent home, a family or your centre of economic interests in a country can make you resident well before the day count does. Get advice before you move.

Moving abroad means more than the visa — sort your travel insurance (many visa applications require proof of coverage), set up borderless banking, and land with data working.

First nomad visa? Our digital nomad visa guide explains how qualifying, applying, and taxes work across every country.