By Marcos Chiluisa
We are all familiar with our national IDs, driver license, or other types of country official IDs, but foreigners that travel around the globe must also bear their official international ID, which in this case is the passport. A passport is a travel document issued by your country of origin needed to leave a country and enter another one, but that is not the only use.
Ecuadorian citizens' national identification card is called a “cedula.” On the other hand, expats use their passport as their ID. It is known that expats enter the Ecuadorian territory every day for tourism, business, etc. and some of them, after a few days, fall in love with the country and decide to extend their stay. In that case, an extension or visa is needed. Any application done in Ecuador either for a visa, insurance, bank account, extension or other official matter needs a passport as a proof of identity for those who are not legal residents or citizens.
Passports, just like every other ID, have an expiration date and when it comes to the immigration process we have to consider the importance of passport validity. We have seen passports that are good for 2, 5, 6 and 10 years but when it comes to immigration and traveling, they share the same rule. Passports cannot expire within 6 months from your date of entry into a country. In the bylaws of the Immigration and Human Mobility Law Article 58, it states the following: “El solicitante deberá presentar el pasaporte válido y con un período de vigencia mínimo de seis (6) meses.”
This means that the applicant must show a passport that has at least 6 months of validity at the time of submitting documentation. This is a universal rule when applying for visas. We can see this requisite as the first item listed on every single visa category shown on the webpage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador.
So remember, if a passport expires in less than six months when requesting a visa, it will not be accepted. If your plan is to complete an immigration process in Ecuador, make sure to look at your passport expiration date to avoid problems when submitting your application.