Country-wide policy
Every Threshold Is Written in Minimum Wages, and the Wage Is Reset Each January
Ecuador does not put dollar figures in its immigration rules. It writes them as multiples of the Salario Básico Unificado, the monthly minimum wage, which the Ministerio del Trabajo fixes by ministerial agreement each December for the year ahead. The rentista and pension thresholds are three wages, the investor threshold is a hundred, the customs ceiling on work equipment is a hundred and sixty, the tourist extension fee is a third of one, and the overstay penalty is one. For 2026 the wage is USD 482, twelve dollars above 2025. Because Ecuador uses the US dollar, none of these figures drifts between settlements - which is the opposite of the position in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru or Uruguay, where a dollar-denominated threshold moves with the exchange rate every day.
Topics it changes
- Residency on passive income
- Residency as a retiree
- Residency through investment
- Visiting as a tourist
- Bringing your belongings
- Access to healthcare
What it requires
- Read every threshold as a multiple, and multiply by the wage in force on the date the application is filed
- Expect the dollar value of every threshold to step up once a year, in January
- For customs valuations, use the wage in force on the date the customs declaration is accepted
At a glance
- Minimum wage 2026
- USD 482 a month
- Rise on 2025
- USD 12
The rise is recorded in the recitals of Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195, where both sides of the wage council agree on doce (12) dólares. The agreement's operative article states only the resulting wage, not the increase.
- Rentista and pension threshold
- 3 wages - USD 1,446CALC (calculated by us, not published)
Our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument: the Reglamento a la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, in articles 63 and 65, states the amount as three Salarios Básicos Unificados, and the Salario Básico Unificado for 2026 is USD 482, fixed by Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195. Both are quoted on this record. The dollar value changes with the January wage settlement, not with an exchange rate - Ecuador uses the US dollar.
- Investor threshold
- 100 wages - USD 48,200CALC (calculated by us, not published)
Our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument: the Reglamento a la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, in article 66, states the amount as one hundred Salarios Básicos Unificados, and the Salario Básico Unificado for 2026 is USD 482, fixed by Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195. Both are quoted on this record. The dollar value changes with the January wage settlement, not with an exchange rate - Ecuador uses the US dollar.
- Work equipment customs ceiling
- 160 wages - USD 77,120CALC (calculated by us, not published)
Our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument: Resolución SENAE-SENAE-2024-0083-RE, in article 14, states the amount as one hundred and sixty salarios básicos unificados, and the Salario Básico Unificado for 2026 is USD 482, fixed by Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195. Both are quoted on this record. The dollar value changes with the January wage settlement, not with an exchange rate - Ecuador uses the US dollar.
- Tourist extension fee
- One third of a wage - USD 160.67CALC (calculated by us, not published)
Our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument: the Reglamento a la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, article 209, sets the fee as one third of the Salario Básico Unificado, and the Salario Básico Unificado for 2026 is USD 482, fixed by Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195. Both are quoted on this record. A third of 482 is 160.666..., and nothing we read says how it is rounded when charged.
- Overstay penalty on return within a year
- 1 wage - USD 482
The multiple is the instrument's: the Reglamento a la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, article 224, sets the payment at one Salario Básico Unificado. Pairing it with the 2026 wage of USD 482 from Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195 is ours. Both are quoted on this record.
- How it is set
- By ministerial agreement each December, after the tripartite wage council
Dollarisation makes the threshold honest
A relocation threshold expressed in a local currency and converted to dollars is a number that starts going out of date the day it is published, and the errors compound when a secondary source quotes the conversion rather than the rule. Ecuador removes that failure mode: the country's currency is the US dollar, so USD 1,446 a month for a rentista means the same thing in December as it did in January. The only thing that moves it is the annual wage settlement, which happens in the second half of December and takes effect on 1 January.
It also means the bar rises every year
Stability is not the same as generosity. The 2026 settlement lifted the minimum investment for an investor visa by USD 1,200 and the rentista income test by USD 36 a month, without any immigration instrument changing. Anyone planning a 2027 application should assume another step and leave headroom; anyone quoting a dollar figure should date it.
What the law says
«El Salario Básico Unificado del trabajador en general, incluidos los trabajadores de la pequeña industria, trabajadores agrícolas, trabajadores de maquila, trabajadores remunerados del hogar, operarios de artesanías y colaboradores de la microempresa, se fija en cuatrocientos ochenta y dos dólares de los Estados Unidos de América (US$ 482,00), a partir del 01 de enero de 2026.»Our translation - not official
The Salario Básico Unificado of the worker in general, including workers in small industry, agricultural workers, maquila workers, paid domestic workers, artisan operatives and microenterprise collaborators, is set at four hundred and eighty-two United States dollars (US$ 482.00), from 1 January 2026.
About this source
Fixes the Salario Básico Unificado by ministerial agreement each December for the following year. That figure is the input behind every immigration threshold in Ecuador, none of which is written in dollars.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for immigration rules, nor for sectoral minimum wages beyond the general SBU. It publishes its agreements as signed PDFs rather than consolidations, so it is not the source for the current text of one that has been amended. Practically, its acuerdos index refuses to load through extraction; the download endpoint works.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«el sector trabajor manifiesta que, luego de la reunión sostenida entre sus representantes y por decisión unánime, a viva voz, consciente en un incremento de doce (12) dólares para el salario básico unificado del año 2026. El sector empleador señala que, tras la reunión sostenida entre sus representantes y por unanimidad, ha decidido a viva voz adherirse a la propuesta de incrementar en doce (12) dólares, el salario básico unificado para el año 2026.»Our translation - not official
the workers' sector states that, after the meeting held between its representatives and by unanimous decision, out loud, it consents to an increase of twelve (12) dollars for the unified basic wage for the year 2026. The employers' sector states that, after the meeting held between its representatives and unanimously, it has decided out loud to adhere to the proposal to increase the unified basic wage for the year 2026 by twelve (12) dollars.
The publisher's text reads 'el sector trabajor' for 'trabajador'; the typo is the ministry's and is kept. The wage was agreed rather than imposed, which is unusual and reported by the ministry as the first consensus in nearly a decade.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Fixes the Salario Básico Unificado by ministerial agreement each December for the following year. That figure is the input behind every immigration threshold in Ecuador, none of which is written in dollars.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for immigration rules, nor for sectoral minimum wages beyond the general SBU. It publishes its agreements as signed PDFs rather than consolidations, so it is not the source for the current text of one that has been amended. Practically, its acuerdos index refuses to load through extraction; the download endpoint works.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«iguales o superiores a (3) tres Salarios Básicos Unificados del trabajador en general, los cuales deberán ser apostillados en caso de haber sido emitidos en un país»Our translation - not official
equal to or greater than three (3) Salarios Básicos Unificados of the worker in general, which must be apostilled where they were issued in a country
The rentista multiple. The pension category repeats it in article 65.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's regulations registry. Hosts consolidated texts of laws, decrees and ministerial agreements, each PDF carrying a 'Normativa: Vigente' marker and an 'Última Reforma' line, with amendments attributed article by article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for currency. The landing pages carry the state's own warning that the information is referencial and may be out of date, and the consolidations are produced by a commercial legal publisher under state hosting rather than by the gazette. A consolidation appears months after the reform it folds in: the July 2025 LOMH reform surfaced in a September 2025 file. For the date and issue number of an instrument, the Registro Oficial is the authority, not this.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«por un monto no menor a cien (100) Salarios Básicos Unificados del trabajador en general;»Our translation - not official
for an amount of not less than one hundred (100) Salarios Básicos Unificados of the worker in general;
The investor multiple.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's regulations registry. Hosts consolidated texts of laws, decrees and ministerial agreements, each PDF carrying a 'Normativa: Vigente' marker and an 'Última Reforma' line, with amendments attributed article by article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for currency. The landing pages carry the state's own warning that the information is referencial and may be out of date, and the consolidations are produced by a commercial legal publisher under state hosting rather than by the gazette. A consolidation appears months after the reform it folds in: the July 2025 LOMH reform surfaced in a September 2025 file. For the date and issue number of an instrument, the Registro Oficial is the authority, not this.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«Únicamente las importaciones del equipo de trabajo, cuyo valor no exceda de ciento sesenta (160) salarios básicos unificados, estarán exentas del pago de tributos al comercio exterior.»Our translation - not official
Only imports of work equipment whose value does not exceed one hundred and sixty (160) unified basic wages are exempt from the payment of foreign trade duties.
The customs multiple.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The customs service. Issues the household goods resolutions in its own gazette section and runs an explanatory page for migrants.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the foreigner's position if only the explanatory page is read: that page defines menaje de casa exclusively in terms of the returning Ecuadorian, and the extension to foreigners, together with the two rules that matter most to them, exists only in the resolution. Always go to the resolution for a foreigner. Its resolutions are superseded in part without the explanatory page changing.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«La solicitud de prórroga de los turistas que ingresaron con autorización de permanencia deberá realizarse mientras tengan vigente su permanencia autorizada, previa solicitud y pago de la tarifa que será la tercera parte del Salario Básico Unificado.»Our translation - not official
The extension application of tourists who entered with a stay authorisation must be made while their authorised stay is still valid, on application and payment of the fee, which shall be one third of the Salario Básico Unificado.
The tourist-extension fraction.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's regulations registry. Hosts consolidated texts of laws, decrees and ministerial agreements, each PDF carrying a 'Normativa: Vigente' marker and an 'Última Reforma' line, with amendments attributed article by article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for currency. The landing pages carry the state's own warning that the information is referencial and may be out of date, and the consolidations are produced by a commercial legal publisher under state hosting rather than by the gazette. A consolidation appears months after the reform it folds in: the July 2025 LOMH reform surfaced in a September 2025 file. For the date and issue number of an instrument, the Registro Oficial is the authority, not this.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«y pretenda retornar al país antes de un (1) año contado a partir de la fecha de la última salida registrada podrá retornar previo pago de un (1) Salario Básico Unificado o la obtención de una visa consular para su primer ingreso.»Our translation - not official
and intends to return to the country before one (1) year counted from the date of the last registered departure, may return on payment of one (1) Salario Básico Unificado or by obtaining a consular visa for their first entry.
The overstay multiple.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's regulations registry. Hosts consolidated texts of laws, decrees and ministerial agreements, each PDF carrying a 'Normativa: Vigente' marker and an 'Última Reforma' line, with amendments attributed article by article.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for currency. The landing pages carry the state's own warning that the information is referencial and may be out of date, and the consolidations are produced by a commercial legal publisher under state hosting rather than by the gazette. A consolidation appears months after the reform it folds in: the July 2025 LOMH reform surfaced in a September 2025 file. For the date and issue number of an instrument, the Registro Oficial is the authority, not this.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The agreement takes effect on signature, without waiting for publication in the Registro Oficial, so the January figure is operative before the gazette carries it.
The consular tariff is not indexed to the wage: visa fees are fixed dollar amounts in the 2023 Arancel Consular y Diplomático. Only the thresholds and the migration fines move with the wage.