Ecuador · Visa required
Emigrating to Ecuador
For Ecuador you apply online for a temporary residence visa at the Cancillería, the foreign ministry. That's possible from the Netherlands, or from Ecuador if you're there as a tourist. With a pension of three basic wages, 1,446 dollars a month, the visa jubilado is well within reach, and after 21 months you can stay permanently. The AOW is favourable: thanks to a treaty from 2002 it goes along in full. Tax is harder: there's no tax treaty, so the Netherlands keeps taxing and Ecuador taxes your worldwide income. Whoever gets the residencia fiscal temporal within 120 days of entry pays in Ecuador for five years only on income from Ecuador.
€ 399 one-off · 38 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- A visa online at the Cancillería, then the orden de cedulación and the cédula at the Registro Civil
- The clock
- A VOG at most 180 days old at entry; your household goods within six months; the residencia fiscal temporal within 120 days
- Note
- No tax treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing and Ecuador taxes your worldwide income. But the full AOW, and a policy instead of the CAK
Last updated: 15 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from the online application to your first return
This journey turns on one unit of account and three clocks. The unit is the Ecuadorian basic wage: 482 dollars in 2026, and every threshold is a multiple of it. Three for the jubilado, the rentista and the digital nomad, a hundred for the investor. The clocks are the 180 days of your VOG to your entry, the six months in which your household goods have to be in, and the 120 days after entry for the residencia fiscal temporal. On top of that there's what the brochure doesn't mention: there is no tax treaty, but there is a treaty for the AOW.
- Orientation
Temporary, then permanent, one treaty yes and one no
In this phase you learn how living in Ecuador works, and what it does to your income and your healthcare. Ecuador has a temporary residence of two years, renewable more than once, and a permanent residence after 21 months. Whoever comes with a pension gets the visa jubilado at three basic wages a month. Whoever lives on income of their own, also before the AOW age, can become a rentista at the same threshold. Your AOW goes along in full, thanks to the 2002 treaty, even if you go alone. There is no tax treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and pension, and Ecuador taxes your worldwide income once you've been there 183 days. There's no healthcare treaty, so no CAK.Read more
- Your visa
Choosing a route, papers with an apostille, and an application in e-VISAS
In this phase you apply for your visa, online, in the Cancillería's e-VISAS. That's possible from the Netherlands, through an embassy or consulate of Ecuador, or from Ecuador if you're there as a tourist. You choose your route first: jubilado, rentista, investor, digital nomad, employee, or through an Ecuadorian partner, which gives permanent residence straight away. Per family member you show 250 dollars a month extra. Your papers get an apostille and a translation, and your VOG is usable for 180 days to your entry. Health insurance for the whole duration of the visa is part of the application. The visa costs 320 dollars, and from age 65 half.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
No tax treaty, the full AOW, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list for closing the Netherlands, and with this country tax weighs heavily. There is no tax treaty. So the Netherlands keeps its taxation of your AOW, your government pension, your occupational pension and your annuity, and you get no tax credit. As your country of residence Ecuador taxes your worldwide income, your AOW and your pension too, with a deduction for the Dutch tax. For newcomers there's the residencia fiscal temporal: five years of tax only on income from Ecuador, with an investment of 150,000 dollars or 2,500 dollars a month from abroad. Your AOW goes along in full. There's no CAK: your policy has to be accepted before you deregister. And whoever leaves before AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
Household goods without import duties, and no car
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. With a residence visa your household goods are free of import duties, if they arrive between one month before and six months after your entry. As a foreigner you have the declaration made by a customs agent. For the car the answer is short: Ecuador only admits new cars, and a foreigner may not import a car as household goods. You sell it here and buy another one there. The pet needs a health certificate at most ten days old, endorsed by the NVWA, a treatment against parasites within 21 days and valid vaccinations.Read more
- Arrival in Ecuador
The orden de cedulación, the cédula, then healthcare, bank and licence
In this phase you arrange your cédula, your healthcare and your bank after landing. With the orden de cedulación from the Cancillería, for 10 dollars, you get your cédula at the Registro Civil, for 5 dollars. Then you settle your healthcare: your own policy, or a voluntary affiliation with the IESS. If you start working or letting, you register in the SRI's RUC. You exchange your Dutch driving licence at the ANT, for 142 dollars. A tenant has the right to two years. And after 183 days in a tax year you're a resident for tax, with a return in March.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Ecuador journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 3.3 of your plan
Know the Ecuadorian side: worldwide income after 183 days, or the residencia fiscal temporal
- Lead time
- a conversation with an Ecuadorian contador, before departure
- Costs
- advice hours
In this step you see what the SRI, the Ecuadorian tax authority, does with your income. And you see a clock that's in none of the brochures.
When you're a resident. You're a tax resident if in a tax year you're in Ecuador for 183 days or more, short absences included. That can also be over two tax years, within twelve months, unless you show that you're a tax resident elsewhere. A resident is taxed on his income from Ecuador and from abroad.
Your pension. The exemption in the law applies to benefits of the IESS and to Ecuadorian state pensions. A Dutch AOW or a Dutch occupational pension isn't among them. As a resident you therefore declare them. You deduct the Dutch tax withheld on them. In 2026 the rate is 0 percent up to 12,208 dollars a year; above that it rises from 5 to 37 percent. If you're older than 65, the same amount again is exempt.
The residencia fiscal temporal. Since December 2023 the law has a scheme for newcomers. Whoever was never a tax resident of Ecuador then pays tax only on income from Ecuador for five years. Your AOW and your pension from the Netherlands then stay outside Ecuadorian taxation. The conditions:
| Way | Condition | With it |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | at least 150,000 dollars in real estate or a productive activity in Ecuador | the investment stays at least five years |
| Income | at least 2,500 dollars a month of proven income that doesn't come from Ecuador | you join the IESS for as long as you're in the country |
The conditions have to be met between the first and the 120th day after your entry into Ecuador, and you prove the date of entry. You choose the scheme once and notify the SRI, following a procedure the SRI sets out in a resolution. After that you're in Ecuador for at least 183 days every tax year, otherwise the scheme lapses from that year. The income of the second way comes from work or capital outside Ecuador, and not from a tax haven. Whoever meets the conditions gets, according to the migration law, a temporary residence of five years.
Put this to a contador, an Ecuadorian tax adviser, before your departure: 120 days is short. Know too: work you do in Ecuador is income from Ecuador, in this scheme as well.
What this step rests on
- Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno, articles 2 and 4.1 — residents are taxed on their income from abroad; resident after 183 days in a tax year
- Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno, the residencia fiscal temporal — five years of only income from Ecuador, with an investment of 150,000 dollars or 2,500 dollars a month from abroad, within 120 days
- Regulation to the Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno — the residencia fiscal temporal: once, notify the SRI, and 183 days in Ecuador every year
- Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, article 60 — whoever meets the conditions of the residencia fiscal temporal gets a temporary residence of five years
- Ley de Régimen Tributario Interno, article 9 paragraphs 7 and 12 — exempt are the benefits of the IESS and Ecuadorian state pensions, and from age 65 one more tax-free allowance
- SRI — the 2026 rate table: 0 percent up to 12,208 dollars
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Ecuador.
This is step 3.3 of 38. The other 37 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 38 steps for EcuadorEvery step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Ecuador: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Ecuador change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
What will your move to Ecuador cost? Work it out →Also want to know whether your departure date is feasible? Take the departure scan: seven questions, and you see your whole plan in miniature →
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Ecuador? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Ecuador starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
In December we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Ecuador
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in Ecuador: no CAK, but compulsory insurance, public through the IESS or privateEcuador is not on the CAK's list of treaty countries, so you take no Dutch health insurance along. For the visa and for living in Ecuador you do need health insurance, public or private. With a cédula you can join the IESS, the social insurance institute, voluntarily: 17.6% of an income you declare yourself, at least on the basic wage of 482 dollars.
- The residence routes to Ecuador: jubilado, rentista, investor or digital nomadAnyone who wants to live in Ecuador applies online for a temporary residence visa from the Cancillería, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For retirees there is the jubilado visa, with a pension of at least three basic wages a month: 1,446 dollars in 2026. The visa is valid for two years. After 21 months you can apply for permanent residence.
- Working in Ecuador: a work visa with a registered contract, as self-employed, or as a nomad for abroadFor employment in Ecuador you apply for the trabajo visa, with a contract registered with the Ministry of Labour. For work as a self-employed person or consultant there is a separate visa, and anyone working for an employer abroad can become a digital nomad. All three cost 50 plus 270 dollars and are valid for two years. You register a foreign degree for 25 dollars.
- AOW, pension and tax in Ecuador: full AOW, but no tax treatySince 2006 the Netherlands and Ecuador have had a treaty on paying out benefits: a single person also gets the full AOW. There is no tax treaty, so the Netherlands simply keeps taxing your AOW and your pension, without tax credits. Ecuador taxes your worldwide income as the country of residence and deducts the Dutch tax. Newcomers with at least 2,500 dollars of foreign income a month can pay only on Ecuadorian income for five years.
- Car and driving licence in Ecuador: your car is not household goods, you exchange your licence at the ANTA foreigner may not bring a car or motorcycle into Ecuador as part of the exempt household goods; only a returning Ecuadorian may. According to NederlandWereldwijd you may drive on your Dutch licence for 30 days. Anyone who lives there exchanges it at the ANT, the transit agency, for 142 dollars, with proof of blood group and a statement about your licence with an apostille.
- Dog or cat to Ecuador: a certificate of ten days, dewormed within 21 daysA dog or cat enters Ecuador with a health certificate from the official veterinary service, in the Netherlands the NVWA, that is no older than ten days. The animal is older than four months, has been dewormed within 21 days and has valid vaccinations, including rabies. If it travels as cargo, you apply to Agrocalidad for an import permit 72 hours in advance.
All 13 articles about Ecuador
- Household goods to Ecuador: free of import duties with a visa, apply within six months
- Banking and payments in Ecuador: an account with your passport, but money abroad costs 5%
- The first weeks in Ecuador: the cédula first, and keep an eye on the clocks
- Buying a house in Ecuador: foreigners may, and you become owner on registration
- Renting in Ecuador: two years minimum, and above 482 dollars a registered contract
- Registration and numbers in Ecuador: the orden de cedulación, the cédula and the RUC
- School in Ecuador: thirteen years of compulsory education, and first have the school years recognised
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Ecuador: 38 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.