Expat Community > Ecuador

Retired4good
Joined 2022
Posts: 17

Retirement visa

1 year ago

Many people continue to ask about the cost of visas. I arrived in Cuenca in late February and after some problems with getting paperwork delivered, I have received my visa and cedula (national ID card) in June. I needed to extend my tourist visa and that cost $152. I did that by myself and it was easy. You just go to a migracion office (immigration) WITH YOUR PASSPORT) ( I had to have my facilitator send mine to me as I live in a different city). A tourist vis is good for 90 days which is usually enough time to process a visa. I went through a facilitator named Joseph Guznay in Quito. Although he followed up quickly on all my concerns I would have preferred a note saying that he had. That's my only grief.

Here are the costs for my visa. They do not include postage, travel, or anything like that. Just the costs of getting a visa.

I initially set Joseph $250 as a retainer. NOTE: when the money arrived in Ecuador the receiving bank held onto $15 as a processing fee. So remember to add that on if you're going to send a wire to anyone here.

- Visa application fee: $25
- Your temporary visa: $135
- Migratory certificate: $5.60
- Cédula renewal: $26
- Basic health insurance: $45
- Final 50% of my fee: $250

Where it says "temporary visa", that's the first visa you get. It's for 2 years and then you can renew/apply for a permanent visa. Mine didn't cost as much as others because I'm in a category called tercer edad or third age (read old farts). The normal costs for a visa that I saw on websites went up to around $460. Also I got a cedula renewal because I lived here before. I'm not sure of the price of a new cedula but I don't think it's much more than I paid.

Health insurance is required for a visa. You can bring an international policy (you will need names and numbers) with you or have a facilitator get one for you and add it on to the price like I did.

Typically a facilitator does not require payment of these fees or the back half of his fee until the visa is acquired.

NOTE: You are required to be present to get your cedula. You must sign some papers and have you photo taken. You can pick up your cedula at the same office about 1/2 hour after you complete the process.

I hope this helps someone. Remember these are costs specific to me. This is a list of the costs for us old folks. The younger people need to verify costs that are different from them. Costs of facilitators also differ so do some research.

Good luck,
AL

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