Working in Ecuador as a French Citizen: Visa, Salary, Taxes and Contributions

The 90-day tourist stay without a visa does not authorise work: to take up salaried employment, the French citizen applies for a temporary work residence visa with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, only online on the e-VISAS platform. The file includes a passport valid for six months, a recent photo, a criminal record certificate less than 180 days old, translated and apostilled, proof of lawful means of support, an employment contract or a personnel record issued by the employer, the contract registration certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour, and a certificate from the employer attesting that it has no outstanding obligations towards the SRI, the IESS and the Superintendency of Companies (gob.ec).

The fees are 50 dollars for the application and 270 dollars for the issue, without VAT; the visa is valid for two years and renewable only once. Payment must be made on the same day, before 11:55 pm Ecuador time, failing which the application is deleted. Other categories exist for self-employment, professional services, technical professions or remote work: the table below compares them.

The working holiday programme and the other statuses reserved for young people are presented on the page on working holiday (PVT) insurance. The guide for employees working abroad completes the steps on the French side.

The unified basic wage (SBU) is the legal floor for workers in general, including in small industry, farming, the maquila, domestic work and micro-enterprises. It is set every year, in dollars a month, by an agreement of the National Labour and Wages Council.

Above this floor, salaries are negotiated according to the trade, the city and the sector. INEC regularly publishes the average family income of a typical household, which serves as a benchmark for comparing an offer with local reality. The “Economic indicators” block gives the updated indicators (unemployment, inflation, growth). The contract is concluded in Spanish and must be registered with the Ministry of Labour; the terms on working time, leave and notice are checked in the Labour Code or with a local lawyer.

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) runs compulsory insurance for employees. For a private-sector employee, the rate is 20.60% of pay in total: 9.45% payable by the employee, withheld by the employer, and 11.15% payable by the employer (IESS, affiliation frequently asked questions). Responsibility for affiliation lies with the employer, who also registers dependants.

Workers with no employment relationship can affiliate voluntarily if they are over 18 and have no arrears towards the IESS; resident foreigners can do so with a resident visa, and a self-employed person registers with their RUC. Voluntary members receive the same sickness and maternity benefits as compulsory members, and the spouse can be covered for an additional premium; the IESS page cites a rate of 17.60% on a minimum base established from a reference minimum wage, which is to be confirmed with the institute. To be treated, a member needs three months of continuous contributions before the illness begins, but cover for occupational risks applies from the first day of work.

No social security agreement appears between France and Ecuador: CLEISS (the French liaison centre for international social security) does not publish a country sheet for Ecuador. A local employee therefore comes under the IESS, with no totalisation of periods with France. The page on healthcare reimbursement in Ecuador details the consequences for health.

Personal income tax is assessed by the Internal Revenue Service (SRI), according to a progressive scale revised every year by resolution. The exact bracket amounts can be read on the SRI website for the tax year concerned. For an employee, the employer withholds the tax at source according to the tables in force.

France and Ecuador signed in Quito on 16 March 1989 a convention to avoid double taxation on income taxes, in force since 25 March 1992 and published by the decree of 4 May 1992. Under its article 15, salaries are taxable only in the State of residence, unless the employment is exercised in the other State. Article 23 provides that France grants its resident, as a credit against its tax, a sum equal to the tax paid in Ecuador. The resident is defined by article 4 as any person liable to tax in that State under its legislation (Légifrance).

In practice, a French citizen who settles in Ecuador must determine their tax residence using the domestic-law criteria of each country, then apply the treaty; the list of treaties on impots.gouv.fr (the French tax authority’s website) refers to the full text. The full text and the administrative commentary on the treaty are published by the BOFiP (the official tax bulletin).

In the absence of a social security agreement, an employee sent by a French company can be seconded outside an agreement: they remain affiliated to the French scheme for three years, renewable once. They are covered up to the benefits they would have received for the same care in France, on paid invoices using form S 3125c; contributions are paid in France as if the activity were carried out there, without exempting them from any contributions due locally (CLEISS). See seconded or expatriate.

An expatriate employee on a local contract, by contrast, leaves the French scheme and comes under the Ecuadorian scheme; the CFE (Caisse des Français de l’étranger, the French expatriate health fund) is then added to local affiliation without exempting them from it (CLEISS). The remote worker visa (rentista for remote work) is aimed at people who work for an employer or client based abroad: it requires income from foreign sources of at least three basic wages a month during the three months before the application, health insurance covering Ecuador and an additional 250 dollars of monthly income per dependant; it is open only to the nationalities on a list of the Ministry of Tourism. The guide to digital nomad visas compares these arrangements.

According to France Diplomatie, the Ecuadorian economy rests 59.4% on services, 31.2% on industry and 9.4% on agriculture. The country’s main customers are the United States, China, Panama and Chile, and its main suppliers the United States, China, Colombia and Brazil. The currency is the US dollar, which anchors prices and salaries in a hard currency.

Bilateral Franco-Ecuadorian trade is dominated by French imports from Ecuador, 97% of them agri-food products (Treasury Directorate-General). Some thirty French subsidiaries and investments are listed, notably in urban transport, water and sanitation construction and energy; the free trade agreement between the European Union and Ecuador is gradually reducing trade barriers. These sectors offer the most visible openings for a French manager or technician.