Getting a Visa Extension in Ecuador

To be upfront: don’t do it. It’s barely worth it. It cost $150 and is just for 90 extra days. For US citizens, you get 90 days for a visa on arrival for free but if you want to stay longer like us, you’ll have to go through a bit of a process or risk being illegal. Given how much people in the US gripe about illegals, it seemed hypocritical to do so seeing as we are capable of applying for the the extension. 

Before we came to Ecuador, the government passed a new law regarding visas. Initially we read that the new tourist visa would allow tourists to stay for 180 days with a visa on arrival which was great, since we’re only staying for about six months. It was ambiguous when this new law was going into effect though, and the stamps in our passports didn’t tell us how long we had (like most other countries do I might add).

In February they announced that the law went into effect, but from all the chatter on expats forums, they hadn’t done anything to implement it yet. One long-term expat said they were giving amnesty for a certain period to people whose visas were already expired or nearly expired due to the confusing law change. This was a good thing since our visas were up to the last few days. A lot of people were also trying to get other kinds of visas and were asking if anyone knew anything more specific because they were getting the run around at the ministry offices. Fortunately these forums gave us a lot of information we needed so we didn’t need to go through all the rigamarole, but we still needed to go through the process.

To get a tourist visa extension, you need just seven things. It didn’t sound very difficult, unlike the other visas which are now requiring background checks from both Ecuador and your home county (for the record: FBI checks from the US are a pain to get, especially if you’re already overseas. I know from experience). For a tourist extension, you need:

1. Completed application with passport photo: Make sure that when they want your home address, they mean your address in Ecuador, not your address in your home country as it suggests. We had to rewrite ours when we got there. This doesn’t really make sense to us since we’re supposedly just supposed to be tourists and no permanent address, but I guess if you aren’t renting an apartment like us, put down your hostel or something. There’s also a space for visa application on the application (supposedly where you write a letter) but we left this blank with no problems.
2. Letter of petition: No idea if there’s some kind of format to this. We addressed it to the Ministry of Foreign Relations and I just used Google Translate to get it in Spanish. No one looked at it very closely so it’s possible you can really just write anything.
3. Color copy of your front passport page: You have to have at least 6 months remaining on your passport validity.
4. Health Insurance: It can be any health insurance, travel, private or public and doesn’t have to be from Ecuador.
5. Copy of bank statement: You need to have at least $1,125 USD. We were told screenshots were fine, just be sure they are recent.
6. Background check from Ecuador: To get this, you have to go to the Interior Ministry office and fill out a quick application along with color copies of your front passport page and the page with your arrival stamp to Ecuador. After they put you into the computer or whatever, you wait 24 hours and then you can view your background check certificate online and print it off.
7. Migration Certificate: While you’re at the Interior Ministry, best get this certificate too. You’ll need your actual passport in hand and $5. They print and sign it then and there so there’s not too much waiting.

 

Official instructions and requirements (in Spanish)

 

They also don’t state it, but you’ll also need a manila folder with a two hole punch to submit your application. There are lots of paper shops around the city selling these, or if you forget, you can buy for a 100% upcharge there in front of the Foreign Ministry office (50 cents instead of 25 cents). There are a number of people and copy shops making a killing there because I think you need all of your documents to be dated the date you are applying (except for the migration certificate). There were announcements made in Spanish and I heard something about the word “date” and “today” so I’m just extrapolating. Anyway, sounds like something you can do yourself except….wait for it….you’ll probably have to line up at 5am in the morning and no other printing shops in the area are open that early.

Yes, that’s right, I said you have to arrive at 5am in the morning at the Foreign Ministry office. I heard one of the guards saying that some people line up starting at 2am to be the first in line. It sounds absurd, but actually might not be a bad idea because you’ll get out earlier in the morning instead of early afternoon. It’s kind of like camping out for Black Friday sales, except less exciting and no awesome new electronic gadget at the end. We tried going three times before we were actually able to get a number ticket just to submit our application. I’m not sure if this is normal, or just due to the backlog with the visa changes but you would think that if they know they have a couple hundred of people a day waiting, they would hire more people or extend their business hours to accommodate. I spoke to a girl from Venezuela, who said that it might because so many of her countrymen are trying to get visas in Ecuador and escape all the bad stuff that’s going on in their country right now. She told me that some people even camp out starting at 7pm the night before too.

So yes, the first step to get your visa (or second if you count getting your documents together) is to get up super early and stand in line. You want to get in within the first 100 to be safe by our guess. You’ll be outside until they open the doors at 7am and put you in their waiting chair/line system. At 8:30, workers actually arrive and start taking people. But don’t be fooled. This is just for step two: get a number ticket. The information desk checks your documents to see what you need and gives you the ticket so you have to wait for your number to be called, like at the DMV. We were number 71 and 72, were told that we should be getting seen about 10 or 11 but in reality…it wasn’t until 2pm. Step three is meeting with some paper pusher who takes about 5 minutes to glance over your stuff, take your picture and give you a receipt to pay. Step four is going to pay the $50 application fee. Then step five is to wait 20 to 30 days to get an email to get your visa and then presumably to pay the remaining $100 fee.

So in total this visa won’t cost $150 dollars, it was more like $175 counting all the printing costs, folders, early morning taxi rides and breakfast empanadas. Not to mention the hours of standing outside and then waiting around. Like I said, not worth it! But at least it’s out of the way so we don’t have to be illegal in Ecuador.

Also, in case you do overstay your visa, what we’ve heard is that there’s no penalty. Actually, one Ecuadorian guy told us that his European girlfriend overstayed by three years and they didn’t care when she left. You shouldn’t get fined or anything but you won’t be able to re-enter Ecuador for a period of time. It might possibly affect you later down the line if you want to apply for some other kind of visa too, but no one is 100% sure about this. Finally, I haven’t heard of anyone who has left the country yet with an expired visa since the law changes so this information may not be up-to-date.