Entering Ecuador as a Tourist
This replaces the general rule for you
Tourist Entry for Mercosur Associated States - 90 Days on Paper, 180 in the Statute
Two Ecuadorian instruments give different answers about how long these nationals may stay as tourists. The ministerial agreement that implements the Mercosur Residence Agreement, in force since 2014, guarantees visa-free entry for tourism for 90 days. The migration statute, as rewritten on 14 July 2025, gives South American tourists up to 180 days plus a 180-day extension. The statute is later and higher, and it grants more, so the practical answer should be 180 - but the older guarantee is the one written into the bilateral framework, and any national of these states who is refused the longer period has the 90-day floor to fall back on.
A tourist is admitted for up to 90 days and can extend once by up to 180 further days, and South Americans start at 180 days with another 180 available - numbers that were rewritten on 14 July 2025 by a protected-areas law that also amended the migration statute. Most of the ministry's own pages still quote the old rule of 90 days within a year extendable by 90, so the published guidance and the statute disagree, and the statute is the one that governs. Most Western nationalities need no visa; a published ministry list names the nationalities that do.
At a glance
- Stay granted on entry
- Up to 90 daysas of 2025-07-14
- Extension
- Once, by up to 180 further daysas of 2025-07-14
Introduced on 14 July 2025. The regulation and the ministry's service pages still describe the older 90-day extension.
- South American tourists
- Up to 180 days, plus a 180-day extensionas of 2025-07-14
- Work on a tourist status
- Prohibited
- Tourist visa fee, where a visa is needed
- USD 50 to apply, USD 30 on grant
- Extension fee charged by migration control
- One third of the minimum wage - USD 160.67 in 2026CALC (calculated by us, not published)as of 2026-01-01
Derived. The regulation sets the fee as a third of the Salario Básico Unificado; the 2026 wage of USD 482 comes from Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195, cited here. The consular route for a tourist extension is priced separately at USD 50 plus USD 30.
- Funds asked for in a tourist visa application
- At least one minimum wage - USD 482 in 2026 - for each month of stayCALC (calculated by us, not published)as of 2026-01-01
Derived: the instrument states the threshold in Salarios Básicos Unificados. The SBU for 2026 is USD 482, fixed by Acuerdo Ministerial MDT-2025-195, which is cited as a source on this fact. Ecuador uses the US dollar, so the figure moves only when the wage is reset each January, not with an exchange rate.
- Overstaying
- A fine and, on leaving, a one-year bar unless one minimum wage is paid or a consular visa obtained
Figures marked CALC are our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument. Where the law states a threshold as a multiple of something else, the amount shown is that multiple applied - and it moves when the underlying figure does.
Requirements
- A valid and current travel or identity document, presented at an official migration control point
- A visa in advance if your nationality is on the ministry's published list of countries that require one
- Registration of your entry with the migration control authority - this is what creates the authorised stay
- Tourism only: a tourist is explicitly barred from working
- Where a tourist visa is applied for, proof of lawful means of support of at least one monthly minimum wage for each month of the stay, or a paid tour, or a sponsor in Ecuador
- For a tourist visa application, a travel itinerary and return tickets
In detail
The numbers changed in July 2025, and most pages have not caught up
A law about protected areas amended the migration statute on 14 July 2025, and article 56 of the Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana now reads 90 days extendable once by up to 180 more, with South Americans starting at 180 and able to add 180. The ministry's own service pages for the tourist visa and for the tourist extension still quote the earlier wording - 90 days in a year from first entry, extendable once by 90 - and the regulation's article 209 still says the extension is 90 days. The pages are the ministry stating the law it applies; they are not the law. Plan against the statute and expect a counter to argue from the older text.
The annual cap is the part worth watching
The old sentence limited a tourist to ninety days 'en el período de un año contado a partir de su primer ingreso' - an annual pool, the same shape as Peru's 183 days in 365 and Colombia's 180 in 365. The replacement sentence counts 90 days 'a partir de su ingreso' and says nothing about a year. The regulation's penalty article still speaks of an extension 'una sola vez durante su año cronológico'. We are not going to claim that Ecuador has abolished the annual limit on the strength of a sentence that stopped mentioning it; what is quotable is that the statutory allowance is now written per entry and the yearly limit survives only in the regulation.
Who needs a visa
The ministry publishes a list of nationalities that need a tourist visa to enter. It includes Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, the People's Republic of China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, several Central Asian states, Albania, and most of Africa. Haitian nationals additionally have to complete a tourist registration before travelling. The page carries no publication date in its text; its address dates it to 30 June 2020, and Ecuador has changed the list more than once since, so treat it as the ministry's current statement rather than a dated instrument.
Country-level policy
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.
What applies to you
Tourist Entry for Mercosur Associated States - 90 Days on Paper, 180 in the Statute
Two Ecuadorian instruments give different answers about how long these nationals may stay as tourists. The ministerial agreement that implements the Mercosur Residence Agreement, in force since 2014, guarantees visa-free entry for tourism for 90 days. The migration statute, as rewritten on 14 July 2025, gives South American tourists up to 180 days plus a 180-day extension. The statute is later and higher, and it grants more, so the practical answer should be 180 - but the older guarantee is the one written into the bilateral framework, and any national of these states who is refused the longer period has the 90-day floor to fall back on.
- Nationality of a Mercosur member or associated state
- No tourist visa is required
- A valid travel or identity document, and registration of entry at an official migration control point
What the law says
«Turista es la persona que se desplaza al Ecuador sin el ánimo de radicarse permanentemente en el país. Están prohibidos de realizar actividades laborales.»Our translation - not official
A tourist is a person who travels to Ecuador without the intention of settling permanently in the country. They are prohibited from carrying out work activities.
Cite the article of the migration law, not the amending act: the protected-areas law of 14 July 2025 replaced article 56 of the Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, and its own article 1 means something else.
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
«El plazo de permanencia como turista será de hasta 90 días contado a partir de su ingreso, prorrogable por una sola vez hasta por 180 días adicionales, previa solicitud ante la autoridad que corresponda.»Our translation - not official
The period of stay as a tourist shall be up to 90 days counted from entry, extendable once by up to 180 additional days, on application to the relevant authority.
The pre-2025 text read 'hasta noventa días en el período de un año contado a partir de su primer ingreso, prorrogable por una sola vez hasta por noventa días adicionales'. Two things changed: the extension grew from 90 to 180 days, and the words tying the allowance to a year from first entry are gone from the new sentence.
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
«Para los turistas suramericanos el plazo de permanencia será de hasta ciento ochenta días contados a partir de su ingreso, y su prórroga por 180 días adicionales, lo podrán solicitar en territorio ecuatoriano o en oficinas consulares de conformidad con la Ley y el Reglamento.»Our translation - not official
For South American tourists the period of stay shall be up to one hundred and eighty days counted from entry, and the extension for 180 additional days may be applied for in Ecuadorian territory or at consular offices in accordance with the Law and the Regulation.
About 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
«La autoridad de control migratorio será el encargado de otorgar una prórroga de hasta noventa (90) días adicionales por una sola vez durante su año cronológico, los mismos que serán continuos y contabilizados independientemente si la persona extranjera se encuentra dentro o fuera del territorio ecuatoriano mientras decurre el tiempo de prórroga otorgado. 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 migration control authority shall be responsible for granting an extension of up to ninety (90) additional days, once during the calendar year, which shall be continuous and counted whether or not the foreign person is inside Ecuadorian territory while the granted extension runs. The extension application by tourists who entered with an authorisation of stay must be made while their authorised stay is still current, on application and payment of a fee which shall be one third of the Salario Básico Unificado.
The regulation still carries the pre-2025 extension of 90 days. Where the regulation and the statute disagree the statute prevails, but a counter may be working from the regulation, and the fee - a third of the minimum wage - comes only from here.
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
«Todas las personas deben ingresar o salir del territorio nacional por puntos de control migratorio oficiales. Se controlará el ingreso y salida de personas con estricto respeto a los derechos humanos. Son requisitos para el ingreso o salida: 1. Documento de viaje o documento de identificación válido y vigente; 2. Registro de ingreso o salida en formato definido por la autoridad de control migratorio; y, 3. Visa vigente para los casos que| establece la ley o la autoridad de movilidad humana.»Our translation - not official
All persons must enter or leave the national territory through official migration control points. Entry and exit of persons shall be controlled with strict respect for human rights. The requirements for entry or exit are: 1. A valid and current travel document or identification document; 2. Registration of entry or exit in the format defined by the migration control authority; and, 3. A current visa in the cases established by the law or by the human mobility authority.
The stored text of the law carries a stray pipe character in 'los casos que| establece la ley'; it is the publisher's, and is kept.
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
«Certificados de estados de cuenta bancaria o de tarjetas de crédito de una institución financiera nacional o extranjera que justifique ingresos o cupos de crédito con un monto igual o superior a la cantidad de (1) salario básico unificado vigente a la fecha de presentación de la solicitud de la visa, y que cubra cada uno de los meses de permanencia de cada solicitante.»Our translation - not official
Certificates of bank account statements or credit cards from a national or foreign financial institution evidencing income or credit limits of an amount equal to or greater than one (1) unified basic wage current at the date the visa application is filed, covering each of the months of stay of each applicant.
This governs visa applications, which is where the ministry asks for it. Nothing we read imposes the same proof at the border on a visa-exempt tourist.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Publishes Acuerdos Ministeriales as PDFs, including the eVisas and means-of-support instrument, and runs informational pages such as the list of nationalities requiring a tourist visa.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for anything time-sensitive on its informational pages. The visa-country list carries no publication date in its body, only a 2020 path in its URL, and the list has changed repeatedly since. Note also that the ministry's own procedure pages mis-describe Acuerdo Ministerial 0000070 when citing it for means-of-support proof: the article is there, but the agreement's title is about digital services.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«En el caso de que la persona extranjera salga de territorio ecuatoriano y mantenga una falta migratoria por haber superado su autorización de permanencia como turista de noventa (90) días; o, que haya o no obtenido prórroga de su autorización de permanencia como turista superando los 90 o 180 días, según corresponda, y no haya cambiado su condición migratoria en el tiempo previsto en la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, 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
Where the foreign person leaves Ecuadorian territory carrying a migration offence for having exceeded their tourist stay authorisation of ninety (90) days, or having obtained or not an extension of their tourist stay authorisation beyond 90 or 180 days as applicable, and has not changed their migration status within the period provided in the Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, and intends to return to the country before one (1) year counted from the date of their last registered departure, they may return on payment of one (1) Salario Básico Unificado or on obtaining a consular visa for their first entry.
About 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 list of visa-required nationalities is reproduced here only as far as it is useful to describe; the full list should be read at the ministry's page before anyone relies on being absent from it. The page itself is undated.
Two different bodies charge for a tourist extension. The migration control authority, part of the Ministerio del Gobierno, charges a third of the minimum wage under the regulation; the foreign ministry's e-Visas catalogue prices a tourist extension at USD 50 to apply plus USD 30 on grant. We have not read anything that reconciles the two, and the practical difference is roughly USD 80.
Nothing we read at the ministry requires a visa-exempt tourist to hold travel insurance. Proof of funds and a return ticket appear as requirements of the tourist visa application, not of entry.
We did not find a published table of the stay granted per nationality of the kind Peru's consular network publishes, so the South American 180 days is stated from the statute and not from an operational table.
- consolidatesLey Orgánica de Movilidad Humana - texto vigente con la última reforma de 14-VII-2025
Registro de regulaciones del Estado ecuatoriano (gob.ec)
About 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
- consolidatesReglamento a la Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana - texto vigente con la última reforma de 18-XI-2025
Registro de regulaciones del Estado ecuatoriano (gob.ec)
About 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
- administersConcesión de visa de visitante temporal turista 90 días
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana (catálogo de trámites, gob.ec)
About this source
One page per visa procedure, with requirements, fees, validity and a legal basis panel. Pages carry a last-updated date and monthly usage statistics.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what the law says. Its legal basis panels demonstrably quote superseded statutory text - the tourist pages still carry the pre-July-2025 wording of LOMH art. 56, and the Mercosur page quotes an art. 60 renumbered in 2021. Cite it for fees, forms, channels and processing, and read the statute for the rule.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- administersConcesión de visa de visitante temporal prórroga turista
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana (catálogo de trámites, gob.ec)
About this source
One page per visa procedure, with requirements, fees, validity and a legal basis panel. Pages carry a last-updated date and monthly usage statistics.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for what the law says. Its legal basis panels demonstrably quote superseded statutory text - the tourist pages still carry the pre-July-2025 wording of LOMH art. 56, and the Mercosur page quotes an art. 60 renumbered in 2021. Cite it for fees, forms, channels and processing, and read the statute for the rule.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- issuesLista de países que deben presentar visa al ingresar al Ecuador
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana
About this source
Publishes Acuerdos Ministeriales as PDFs, including the eVisas and means-of-support instrument, and runs informational pages such as the list of nationalities requiring a tourist visa.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for anything time-sensitive on its informational pages. The visa-country list carries no publication date in its body, only a 2020 path in its URL, and the list has changed repeatedly since. Note also that the ministry's own procedure pages mis-describe Acuerdo Ministerial 0000070 when citing it for means-of-support proof: the article is there, but the agreement's title is about digital services.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesAcuerdo Ministerial No. 0000070 - disposiciones relativas a medios lícitos de vida
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana
About this source
Publishes Acuerdos Ministeriales as PDFs, including the eVisas and means-of-support instrument, and runs informational pages such as the list of nationalities requiring a tourist visa.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for anything time-sensitive on its informational pages. The visa-country list carries no publication date in its body, only a 2020 path in its URL, and the list has changed repeatedly since. Note also that the ministry's own procedure pages mis-describe Acuerdo Ministerial 0000070 when citing it for means-of-support proof: the article is there, but the agreement's title is about digital services.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesAcuerdo Ministerial Nro. MDT-2025-195 - Salario Básico Unificado para el año 2026
Ministerio del Trabajo
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