What does emigrating to Ecuador cost?
Answer a few short questions and you have an honest range for your situation. For every item it says whether it's a checked rate or an estimate. The application itself is affordable: a temporary residence visa costs 320 dollars, and from age 65 half. The orden de cedulación costs 10 dollars, the cédula 5. The money sits in three other items: the health policy that replaces the CAK and returns every year, the move across the ocean, and the car, which may not come along. One thing we state honestly. With a residence visa your household goods are free of import duties, but for the transport and the customs agent there's no rate anywhere; that item is an estimate.
Looking for the whole route to Ecuador, not just the costs? See the steps, the order and the paperwork →
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 3.100 – € 8.000
Where does that difference come from?
- The first months€ 2.000 – € 5.000
Below you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 350 – € 850
- De verhuizing
- € 550 – € 1.300
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.200 – € 5.900
Every item, one by onePer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- The visa at the Cancillería€ 100 – € 300
- The orden de cedulación and the cédula€ 10 – € 20
- VOG, apostilles and official translations(estimate)€ 200 – € 500
The amount depends on the number of documents. A couple with birth certificates, a marriage certificate, two VOGs and the statements from the SVB and the pension fund quickly reaches eight documents. A VOG for a visa or immigration costs € 41.35 through the municipality. An apostille from the court costs € 27 per document. Every document that isn't in Spanish you have translated by a recognised translator; there is no fixed rate anywhere for that translation, count on a few tens of euros per document. The VOG is usable for 180 days, counted to your last entry into Ecuador. Whoever starts too early and has to redo things is at the top.
De verhuizing
- Flights(estimate)€ 550 – € 1.300
The spread sits in the season and the luggage: whoever travels with two extra suitcases pays the top. The amount is for one way from Amsterdam to Quito or Guayaquil, direct or with a change.
De eerste maanden
- The first months(estimate)€ 2.000 – € 5.000
This item consists of rent paid in advance, furnishing what didn't come along, and the months in which you still carry double costs. Rents vary widely: in the better neighbourhoods of Quito, Cuenca or Guayaquil you pay a different rate than in a small town. The rent law caps the rent, linked to the value of the property in the land register (Ley de Inquilinato, article 17), but that cap says little about what you pay in practice. Count the currency risk too: your income comes in euros, life runs in dollars.
- Bank, phone, contador and the first desks(estimate)€ 150 – € 600
Small money, but it's here because it all comes at once in the first weeks. It's about an Ecuadorian account, a local SIM card, the copies and translations you hand in again at every desk, an overview of your travel movements, and a contador for your first return and the question of whether the residencia fiscal temporal works for you. It's also here because the bank charges a rate when transferring your pension from euros to dollars that you want to know in advance.
- Exchanging your driving licence at the ANT€ 100 – € 250
Deliberately no amount here
Taking the car
There is deliberately no amount here, and no question about it. Ecuador only admits new vehicles, of the model year of import or the year after (COMEX resolution 51, article 1). And a foreigner may not import a car or motorbike as household goods (SENAE resolution 2024-0083, article 4). So count on selling in the Netherlands and buying again in Ecuador. You don't get the bpm back: that refund only applies on registration in another EU country, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 1 to 3% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 2.500 to € 7.500.
The fixed item is the alcabala, the municipality's tax on the transfer: 1 percent of the base (COOTAD, article 535). On top come the notary and the Registro de la Propiedad. Those amounts per deed aren't at an official source as a percentage and are the top of the band. Foreigners buy in their own name: the constitution gives them the same rights as Ecuadorians (article 9), but no land in national security areas or in protected areas (article 405). Whoever buys for the visa inversionista may not sell the home while the visa runs.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 15 October 2026.
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One thing you can sort out today
Closing down the Netherlands is the same work for everyone, wherever you're going. With the letter pack you enter your details once, and every cancellation and notification letter is ready: health insurance, rent, employer, bank, pension fund. Each comes with the date by which it has to go out. € 49 one-off, and it's also included in every plan.
In Vertrekklaar you get the complete picture of your own costs, with your route, your documents and your deadlines.
From range to your own budget
The calculator above works with a few questions, but the journey itself knows more. In Vertrekklaar the same model calculates with your real situation: who's coming, which route, and whether the household contents and the pet come along. It also watches the clocks: the 180 days of your VOG, the six months for your household goods, and the 120 days after entry for the residencia fiscal temporal. A one-off € 399, no subscription.
Leaving with AOW or a pension? Compare how countries tax your pension
Every 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.
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