What changed at the land and river borders in January 2024?
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Since 11 January 2024, entering Ecuador by land or river requires a criminal record certificate, legalised with the Hague Apostille and translated into Spanish if it was issued in another language. It is a substantial document to obtain and it cannot be produced at the border, which makes an overland entry something to prepare weeks ahead.
Does that apply to arrivals by air?
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The requirement as published attaches to land and river entry. Arriving at Quito or Guayaquil by air does not bring it into play. That asymmetry is worth knowing for anyone planning to come overland from Colombia or Peru on a whim — the whim is the expensive part.
What are the rules on taking cash out?
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You must declare cash when you leave Ecuador, and there is tax to pay on amounts over 1,350 US dollars. Separately, amounts of 10,000 dollars or more require customs registration before you travel. A tax on money leaving the country is unusual, and the threshold is low enough to catch ordinary travellers.
Which authority decides at the counter?
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Ecuadorian migration officers at the ports of entry, with the Galápagos governing council and the national park administering the additional island requirements. Two layers for an island trip, which is why the paperwork there is checked at a domestic gate rather than at an international one.
Which routes are the ordinary departures?
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Bogotá, Lima, Panama City, Madrid, Miami and Amsterdam carry most of it, with the Colombian and Peruvian sectors the shortest and cheapest. From Quito, a hop to Bogotá or Lima is the natural onward booking and reads entirely normally.
How do I get the second ninety days?
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It is an extension applied for with payment, taking your total to 180 days inside the twelve-month period. Like most extensions it is far more straightforward inside your original period than after it, and the annual ceiling does not move regardless of how the application goes.
Does time in the Galápagos count against my ninety days?
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Yes. The islands are part of Ecuador for the purposes of your allowance, so the sixty-day island maximum runs inside the ninety rather than alongside it. Travellers who plan three months on the mainland and two on the islands are planning five months of a ninety-day permission.
What about the insurance requirement?
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Travel health insurance is mandatory for foreign tourists visiting the Galápagos. It is a condition of the island trip specifically rather than of entering Ecuador, and it is checked with the rest of the island paperwork at the departure airport.
Is there anything to know about leaving overland?
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The crossings to Colombia and Peru are ordinary and busy. Get the exit formalities done properly — an entry record with no matching exit is a problem at your next arrival, and the criminal record requirement for land entry means an informal re-entry is not an option either.
Is there a departure tax?
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It is included in the airline ticket rather than collected at the airport. The payment travellers actually encounter is the transit control card for the Galápagos and the tax on cash above 1,350 dollars on the way out.
What should be ready before I fly?
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A passport with six months, a departure date, and — for the Galápagos — the hotel booking, the return flight to the mainland, the insurance and the plan to buy the transit card at the departure airport before check-in. Four island items, all checked before you board a domestic flight.
