Visa & Legal

Everything you need to know before relocating to Ecuador's Pacific coast — towns, visa tracks, documents, budgets, and a practical first-90-days plan.

Ecuador's public social security system, IESS, is open to legal residents as voluntary affiliates for around $85-100 a month. Here's what it covers, what it doesn't, and how most coastal expats combine it with private care.

The retirement visa itself is simpler than the paperwork behind it. Here's the document sequence that matters, a 90-day timeline, and the mistakes that cost expats the most time.