Ecuador launches campaign to promote special visa for digital nomads

Ecuador on Tuesday launched a campaign to promote a “nomad visa” to encourage foreign digital workers working remotely to settle in the South American country for up to two years to attract tourism, capital, and consumption.

The handover was made by the Minister of Tourism, Niels Olsen, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, Juan Carlos Holguín, at an official ceremony in Quito as part of World Tourism Day.

The Digital Nomads campaign was launched to strengthen the modality of the “nomad visa,” an initiative of the Ecuadorian government that has been in force since last April.

Olsen pointed out that this temporary visa is intended to allow foreign travelers who work remotely to do so in Ecuador while traveling the country to invest resources in the national economy with their domestic trips.

To apply for the visa, interested parties must have a valid passport, a police clearance certificate, health insurance, proof of a minimum salary of US$1,275, and pay the processing fee of US$460.

According to the minister, this is one of the international promotional strategies of the South American country, whose tourism industry is experiencing a revival after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For his part, Holguín stressed that the initiative is the result of many years of work across sectors to increase the number of travelers in Ecuador.

“In many countries, the trend is to work remotely, and that means having a vision of experiences, getting to know the world, and Ecuador is that scenario, consolidating itself as one of the main points of attraction for this concept that is becoming a reality today,” he said.

The Ecuadorian government has set a goal of welcoming two million tourists by 2025 to reactivate the country economically and touristically.

Strategies include prioritized and segmented advertising, open airspace for air travel, better airline conditions, and the promotion of new destinations.