Ecuador digital nomad visa: requirements (2026)

President Noboa signed a sweeping reform to the Organic Law on Human Mobility (LOMH), effective October 24, 2025. The law mandates criminal background certificates for all arrivals (not just visa applicants), introduces expedited deportation with a 40-year re-entry ban, expands deportation grounds to include document falsification and criminal recidivism, and automatically revokes permanent residency after two consecutive years outside Ecuador — directly impacting long-term foreign residents.

Effective September 1, 2025, Ecuador required transit visas for nationals of 45 countries — including Venezuela, India, China, Cuba, and Pakistan — citing security concerns and border control, administered via the eVISAS portal. Concurrently, President Noboa formally denounced the 2011 Ecuador-Venezuela bilateral migration accord that had allowed Venezuelans simplified residency access for 15 years.

Ecuador's Cancillería launched the Portal eVISAS (serviciosdigitales.cancilleria.gob.ec), enabling applicants anywhere in the world to apply for all visa categories — including the Nomad Visa — without visiting an Ecuadorian consulate. This eliminated a major logistical barrier for prospective remote-worker residents, particularly in countries without an Ecuadorian diplomatic post.

Ecuador published an updated Reglamento to the LOMH in May 2023, consolidating all amendments since 2022 — including the Visa Nómada procedural rules of Article 64 — and reducing the nominal application fee. This became the operative procedural rulebook for digital nomad applicants through the 2025 reform cycle.

President Guillermo Lasso signed Executive Decree 354, publishing the full LOMH Implementing Regulation in the Tercer Suplemento del Registro Oficial No. 18. Article 64 formally defined the 'Visa de Residencia Temporal Rentista para Trabajo Remoto' (Visa Nómada), setting the income floor at 3× the Unified Basic Salary (SBU) in foreign-source income, requiring private health insurance with Ecuador coverage, and granting a 2-year renewable stay (extendable once for a total of 4 years). This was the operative launch of Ecuador's digital nomad visa.

Ecuador's National Assembly passed a reform to the LOMH published in Registro Oficial Supplement No. 386 (February 5, 2021), explicitly adding remote work (trabajo remoto/telework) as a qualifying activity under the rentista temporary residence category. This created the legislative authority for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to later issue the Visa Nómada through implementing regulations.

Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility formally listed the 'Concesión de Visa de Residencia Temporal Rentista para Trabajo Remoto (Visa Nómada)' on the official government services portal (gob.ec), confirming acceptance of applications and detailing the documentary requirements, making Ecuador one of the first Andean nations to offer a dedicated remote-worker residency path.

President Moreno signed the inaugural Implementing Regulation (Reglamento) to the 2017 LOMH, operationalizing visa categories, income documentation rules, stay limits, and paths to permanent residency (21 months of continuous temporary residence). This regulation established the procedural architecture that would later be adapted to accommodate remote workers.

President Rafael Correa enacted the Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana (Registro Oficial Supplement No. 938, February 6, 2017), replacing fragmented colonial-era immigration rules with a single 171-article framework. The law created unified visa categories (rentista, inversor, profesional, jubilado, etc.) and established the 2-year renewable temporary residence path and the 21-month qualifying period for permanent residency that continue to underpin today's digital nomad visa structure.