Ecuador issues protocol to grant nationality to foreign applicants

Ecuadornews:

The Government of Ecuador reported on December 20 about the issuance of a regulation that regulates the procedure to deliver the naturalization letter to foreigners who request it in the consulates of the country abroad.

The Vice Ministry of Human Mobility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed in a communiqué that foreigners who, being out of the country, demonstrate a “regular and continuous” residence of at least three years in Ecuador may apply for Ecuadorian nationality.

Also, those who have married or maintain a de facto union with an Ecuadorian citizen for at least two years, as well as foreigners under international protection granted by Ecuador and who justify living in the country, on a regular and continuous basis at least three years.

Those who have been recognized by Ecuador as stateless persons, residing in the regular country and continuing for two years, may also present their application for naturalization before the Ecuadorian consulates abroad, said the Foreign Ministry’s text.

In addition to a written request with the reasons for the naturalization request, applicants must submit, as requirements, the birth certificate duly apostilled (in some cases translated from the native language) and the passport or identity document.

The applicants, according to the protocol issued today, after the qualification of the requirements, will be subjected to an interview and a knowledge test.

The document recalls that “the granting of Ecuadorian citizenship constitutes a sovereign and discretionary act of the Executive Function, before which the competent authority may deny it”. (I)

Source: http://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/papeles-nacionalidad-ecuatoriana-extranjeros-BX1918333