Ecuador Guide
Entry Requirements
Most nationals, including citizens of the EU, and North American and Australasian countries, do not need a visa to enter Ecuador as tourists, and only require a passport valid for more than six months, a return ticket and proof of having enough money for the duration of the stay. You'll be issued with an embarkation card on arrival, which you should keep with your passport – it will be collected when you leave the country. This ‘tourist card' can allow up to ninety days' stay, though it's up to the official whether you're allocated thirty, sixty or ninety days on arrival.
You can get extensions at the Jefatura Provincial de Migración in provincial capitals – it's often at the same address as the police headquarters – and in Quito at the Dirección Nacional de Migración, Amazonas N32-171 and Avenida República, opposite the El Jardín Mall ( 
02/243 7800; Mon– Fri 8am–12.30pm & 3–6.30pm).
If you plan to stay in Ecuador over ninety days, you will need a visa. Note that if you enter as a tourist, you cannot get one of these visas while in the country – and if you are caught with incorrect paperwork you may be detained. If in doubt, always contact the Ecuadorian Consulate in your country before you go.
Visas last from six to twelve months, and are divided between those for immigrants (10-I to 10-VI) and non-immigrants (12-I to 12-X), including those for study (12-V), work (12-VI), volunteering and missionary work (12-VII), cultural exchanges (12-VIII) and long-stay business or tourism (12-IX). Each has its own application procedure and fees, which were raised significantly following dollarization, and vary from $10 to $200 depending on type, plus $30 for the application form.
Once in Ecuador, you have to report to the Dirección de Extranjería at 10 de Agosto and General Murgeón in Quito ( 02/223 1022; Mon– Fri 8am–1pm) or the Sub-Dirección General de Extranjería in Guayaquil ( 04/232 2692) within thirty days of arrival in order to get a censo (identity card). You should bring your passport, certificado de visación (given to you at the consulate in your home country), and copies of your entry stamp, a large envelope (manila) and a folder (carpeta), available at a stationery stand on site. Write your name, Quito address and passport number on the envelope containing your passport; it'll be stamped and ready for you to collect the next day. After this, go to the Dirección Nacional de Migración ( 02/245 4122) at Amazonas N32-171 and Avenida República, opposite El Jardín Mall, armed with your passport, three passport photos, photocopies of your passport, entry stamp and Extranjería stamp, and a letter from your hotel owner or landlord confirming your address, plus a copy of their identity card (cédula). You'll be given a form to sign, asked to stick your photos on various bits of paper, and to pay a small fee, after which you'll be presented with your Certificado de Empadronamiento (the censo), which you can have laminated at a stall outside.
The officials often neglect to tell you this, but you'll also need permission to leave the country (permiso de salida), which you can buy at an immigration police office (in Quito, the Dirección Nacional) for $4, when you get your censo. You can use it for multiple exits during the course of one year.