Electronic Visa will come into effect in January 2019 in Ecuador

Ecuadornews:

As of January 28, 2019, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry will put into effect the electronic visa for foreigners, thus eliminating the physical visa, informed the entity through a statement, on Friday, December 21, 2018.

The electronic visa is about Permanent residence permit, through an electronic registry, that accredits and validates the immigration status of the foreign person in Ecuador. The Deputy Minister of Human Mobility Subrogated, Alfonso Morales, stressed that for the Ecuadorian Government and the Foreign Ministry, it is an important advance to present the electronic visa project, with which the country is incorporated into a modern and efficient computer system.

Morales explained that prior to this process, a day of socialization was undertaken to public institutions, private, tourism companies, among others; as well as internationally. This communication was shared with representatives of the public sector related to mobility and 44 diplomatic missions accredited in the country, between consulates and embassies.

Likewise, organizations of the United Nations system, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to the Foreign Ministry, there are advantages of the new mechanism, among them the reduction of issuance times, procedures and requirements; sending the visa by personal email of the beneficiary; generation of unique code through an access platform that allows the foreign user to download and print the visa as many times as necessary.

In addition, sending alerts to the foreign user about the issuance and expiration of their visa, together with relevant information (activities, tourism, rights, processes, insurance); permanent access platform.

Another advantage of this electronic visa is that it relates to security and there are various methods of verification and validation of visa data, digitally by the control authorities; at the time of guaranteeing the reservation of the information. The physical visas that are currently valid will be valid until the respective expiration. (I)

Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/visa-electronica-ecuador-vigencia-2019.html