The Paperwork Mistake That Delays US Retirees Moving to Ecuador

Before you pack a single box for Ecuador, one overlooked step with a US document can cost you months once you land — according to Marcos Chiluisa, founder of Ecuassist.

Marcos Chiluisa has spent years helping foreigners settle in Ecuador. In an interview conducted in Spanish and translated here, he described the single most common — and most preventable — error he sees among North American retirees: arriving without properly apostilled documents from the United States.

The document chain nobody explains up front

According to Chiluisa, everything in Ecuador's bureaucracy for foreigners connects in a specific order. You need a visa to get a cédula, the national ID card. You need the cédula to open an account at most major banks. And you need the visa itself to be built on documents that were correctly prepared before you ever left home.

That last piece is where retirees get tripped up. Chiluisa said the documents that typically matter most for North American retirees are an FBI background check, a marriage certificate and a pension letter. "Traer documentos de Estados Unidos y apostillar el FBI background check, el certificado de matrimonio, la carta de pensión, todo tiene que venir apostillado desde el país de origen," he said — everything has to arrive already apostilled from the country of origin.

Why it has to happen before you leave

The apostille is not something you can add later as an afterthought once you are settled in Ecuador with your visa paperwork underway. Chiluisa was direct about the consequence of skipping this step: "Si llegas sin eso, tienes que pedirlo a distancia y eso puede costar meses." If you arrive without it, you have to request it remotely, and that can cost months.

That delay matters because, according to Chiluisa, nothing else in the process moves until the visa is resolved. He explained that once someone has a visa and a cédula in hand, "todo lo demás se destraba" — everything else unlocks: not just the bank account, but also insurance, a rental contract and buying a car. Until then, those things stay stuck.

What a stalled visa actually looks like day to day

Chiluisa laid out how long each piece typically takes when the paperwork is already in order. Opening a bank account, he said, can take the same day or a couple of days once you have complete documents. The bottleneck is everything that comes before it: the visa itself, which he said can take weeks or months depending on the type, and the cédula, which follows a few days after the visa is approved.

He also described the more immediate frustration many newcomers hit first: trying to open a bank account before they have a cédula at all. Most large banks in Ecuador won't open an account without one, according to Chiluisa, plus a utility bill in the person's name or the address where they live, and sometimes a personal or business reference. Some banks also ask where the money is coming from, he said, particularly for larger transfers from the US or Canada.

For someone who has just arrived without a cédula, Chiluisa said there are two options: be patient and use a foreign card while the visa and cédula are processed, or look into savings and credit cooperatives, which he said are sometimes more flexible with foreigners. But his consistent advice was to settle the visa and get the cédula first — because everything else, including banking, depends on it.

If Ecuador is one of several countries you are comparing for where to spend your retirement years, the logic Chiluisa described is worth keeping in the back of your mind regardless of destination: paperwork prepared in the wrong order, or in the wrong country, tends to cost time you can't easily buy back once you've already relocated.

What this means for you

If Ecuador is on your shortlist, Chiluisa's advice points to a few concrete steps to take before booking a one-way flight:

• Start the visa process before you move, not after. Chiluisa said this explicitly: people should begin the visa process before relocating, not once they've already arrived.

• Apostille key documents in the US first. According to Chiluisa, an FBI background check, a marriage certificate and a pension letter are among the documents North American retirees commonly need, and all of them must be apostilled in the country of origin — not requested remotely after the fact.

• Expect the visa, not the bank account, to be the slow part. Chiluisa said a bank account can open in a day or two once your paperwork is complete, but the visa can take weeks or months, and the cédula follows only a few days after that.

• Have a plan for the gap. Until you have a cédula, Chiluisa said your options are living off a foreign card temporarily or trying a savings and credit cooperative, which may be more flexible with foreigners than major banks.

Chiluisa's closing advice was blunt: "Prepara los papeles antes de subirte al avión" — prepare the paperwork before you board the plane. As he put it, Ecuador rewards those who arrive organized.

This article is based on an interview conducted by HiExpat on 2026-09-02. Rules and prices change; confirm with the relevant authority before acting.

Photo: Илья Иванов / Pexels