The step-by-step plan for Ecuador

In this step you learn how you may come to live in Ecuador. Ecuador has two kinds of residence:

• Temporary, the residencia temporal. You get it in a category, such as jubilado or rentista. It's valid for up to two years and you can renew it more than once.
• Permanent, the residencia permanente. You apply for it after 21 months in a row as a resident, before your temporary residence runs out. Whoever is married to an Ecuadorian can apply for it straight away.

You apply for every visa online at the Cancillería, the Ecuadorian ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility. That's possible from the Netherlands, but also from Ecuador, if you're there as a tourist. With a Dutch passport you may enter without a visa for up to 90 days in twelve months.

The thresholds are in basic wages, the salario básico unificado. In 2026 that's 482 dollars a month. Every year there's a new amount, and the threshold moves with it. Ecuador counts in dollars: everything in the country is expressed in US dollars. So your pension comes in in euros, and you live in dollars.

Not retired yet? Whoever leaves before AOW age looks at the income there is at that point.

• Jubilado only works with a pension you already receive. The AOW only counts from the moment you receive it.
• Rentista suits whoever lives on rent, interest or other income of their own. The threshold is the same: three basic wages a month.
• Inversionista suits whoever buys a home in their own name, or ties up money at an Ecuadorian bank.
• Nómada digital suits whoever keeps working remotely for an employer or clients outside Ecuador.

In this step you see what emigrating to Ecuador does to your tax, your AOW and your healthcare.

Tax. The Netherlands and Ecuador have no tax treaty. Ecuador isn't in the Belastingdienst's January 2026 table of treaty countries, nor in the treaty database. So the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW, your pension and your annuity. And Ecuador taxes your worldwide income once you're a resident, with a deduction for the tax you already paid in the Netherlands. For newcomers there's one way out: the residencia fiscal temporal, five years of tax only on income from Ecuador. See steps 3.2 and 3.3.

The AOW. Here Ecuador is favourable. In 2002 the Netherlands and Ecuador concluded a treaty on the export of benefits, in force since 1 November 2006. That's why Ecuador is among the 36 countries to which the Netherlands pays the full AOW. Even whoever goes alone keeps the AOW for single people.

Healthcare. Ecuador isn't on the list of treaty countries for healthcare. The 2002 treaty is about benefits, not about health insurance. So there is no CAK. Your Dutch basic insurance stops when you deregister. After that your healthcare is a policy of your own, or the IESS, the Ecuadorian social security system. See step 3.1.

Your AOW build-up stops. Whoever lives outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2 percent of your later AOW. You can insure yourself voluntarily with the SVB. The application has to be in within one year.

In this step you choose where you want to live. Ecuador is small on the map, but the differences are large. Quito and Cuenca lie high in the Andes, the coast is hot and humid. Whoever knows the country from a round trip doesn't yet know what living there is like.

At every place look at three things:

• The altitude and the climate. Live a few weeks in the place you choose, in the season in which you'll really be there. The altitude itself can also be hard on your body.
• Healthcare. Ask at every place where the nearest hospital is, and whether your policy works there.
• The desks. You get your cédula at an office of the Registro Civil. Ask beforehand where the office near you is.

Your scouting trip can straight away become your application. With a Dutch passport you may stay up to 90 days, and from Ecuador you can apply for your visa. See step 2.9.

In this step you see what the move will cost you. On the application side Ecuador is affordable. A temporary residence visa costs 320 dollars: 50 for the application and 270 for issue. Whoever is 65 or older pays half. The orden de cedulación costs 10 dollars, the cédula itself 5.

The money sits in three other items:

• The health policy that replaces the CAK, and that comes back every year.
• The move across the ocean. The household goods themselves are free of import duties, with a residence visa, but you do pay for the transport and the clearance.
• The car, because a used car may not enter Ecuador. You sell it here and buy another one there.

In this conversation you decide together whether Ecuador fits, and when. This country comes with three things you need to look at together.

• Tax. Without a tax treaty the same pension can be taxed in two countries. How much you keep net is something a tax adviser works out, and that figure belongs in this conversation.
• The language. At the desks, the bank and the doctor everything is in Spanish. Agree who is going to learn Spanish, and how.
• The distance. Family and grandchildren in the Netherlands are no longer a quick visit away. Agree how often you'll come back. Note: whoever is working towards permanent residence may be outside Ecuador for at most 90 days in total with a temporary residence.

Choose the day you want to leave. The plan counts back from that date: when the papers from the Netherlands have to be in, when you apply for the visa and when you deregister.

Count in three clocks. Your VOG is usable for 180 days, counted to your last entry into Ecuador. Your household goods have to arrive between one month before and six months after your entry. And whoever wants the residencia fiscal temporal arranges the conditions within 120 days of entry.