Professional Residency Visa for Ecuador Step 1



Ecuador has several different types of Residency Visas. They have Visas for working, retirement, investment, digital nomad and more. One of the more interesting and flexible Residency Visas is called the Professional Visa. A Professional visa is for people who have a college degree. Generally a 4 year degree or higher. Traditionally online degrees have not been accepted, but it is possible if the University offers online and in person degrees and have the same requirements.

The first step to getting a professional visa is registering your degree with Ecuador. The agency that handles this process is named SENESCYT. The process is simple. You need the following documents

  • An Apostille copy of your diploma
  • An Apostille copy of your transcript
  • An Apostille letter stating your "mode of learning". This letter states you were in a person student



If you have attended multiple universities and transferred credits, you need to get the above information for all of the schools you attended.

Hey.... What does Apostille mean? I hear you ask.

One of the agreements from the Hague Convention of 1961 was sort of a concept of an international notary. If you want to send verified documents between countries, you need those documents Apostille. As mentioned, it is kind of an international notary.

Each State Apostille the documents from their state. So if you went to school in Indiana, you must get the state of Indiana to Apostille your college documents. Even if you live WAY far away from Indiana. If you went to school in 2 different states, you guessed it. Two different Apostille process for you to follow. Each state has its own process for you to follow. It is as much fun as it sounds.




The transcript and diploma are pretty straight forward, although at least in states I have worked with, you must get a notarized copy of them to send to the State's Secretary of State office to get the document Apostille.

The mode of education letter has a list of terms you attended and states you were an in person learner. Google for samples.

If you don't live where your college is, this process can take a couple months.

Did I mention these documents all need to be translated to Spanish?

It is at this point, that I strongly suggested DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. There are people that do this for a living. Just hire one.

I used Ecuador Visas (https://www.ecuadorvisas.com/) to file my degree. It was exteramly helpful to have someone who knows the system, when SENESCYT and my university started having a disagreement about who is dropping the ball.

Collection your documents, hire a lawyer, mail off the documents and sit back and let the lawyer do the work.


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