Ecuador customs
Apply for visa
Free import
• For travelers over 18: 3 L of alcoholic beverages, 20 packs of 20 cigarettes (400 cigarettes), 1 lb (about 450 g) of tobacco and 25 cigars.
• Perfume up to 500 ml per traveler or 1,000 ml per family group, and creams, lotions and body splash up to 2,500 ml per traveler or 5,000 ml per family group, in new containers.
• Personal effects such as clothing, toiletries, jewelry, books, children's items and one new and one used mobile phone, camera, laptop, tablet and smartwatch.
• Medicines with a medical prescription (Ecuadorian or foreign), and food supplements up to 8 kg.
• Other goods not on the official list of personal effects, worth up to USD 500 in total.
• Goods above these limits must be declared on the online Customs Registration Form (Formulario de Registro Aduanero, FRA) and duties paid. Goods worth up to USD 2,000 can be cleared at the airport.
Currency
• Cash, bearer negotiable instruments, precious metals and precious stones worth USD 10,000 or more must be declared on the online FRA before going through customs control. Failure to declare can lead to fines and confiscation.
• Non-resident foreigners who register the cash they bring in on arrival, and stay in Ecuador for up to 90 days, do not pay the currency outflow tax (ISD) when they take that money out again.
Prohibited
• Illegal drugs
• Products with soil
• Raw milk and dairy products without sanitary records, and eggs of any species
• Sausages without sanitary registration, including bone-in products
• Raw hides, and decorations made from animal by-products (feathers, bones, horns, tusks, skins, wool, animal hair) without an animal health permit
• Live animals other than pets such as dogs and cats
• Pesticides, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs; veterinary products (medicines, vaccines, animal feed, feed additives, diagnostic kits); biological products (fungi, bacteria, insects, vaccines, antibiotics)
• Semen and animal embryos
Restricted
• Firearms and ammunition may be brought in only with a prior permit from the Ecuadorian authorities; ask an Ecuadorian embassy or consulate before travel.
• All plant and animal products must be declared to AGROCALIDAD on arrival. Non-commercial amounts of frozen, cooked or preserved fruit and vegetables, roasted or dried nuts, coffee and cocoa, dried spices, flours, tea and dry herbal infusions, dried flowers and handicrafts made of wood, bamboo or plant fibers (without bark or insects) may enter after inspection.
• Industrially processed plant products may enter in their original sealed and labeled packaging.
• Properly packaged and labeled: pasteurized dairy products up to 5 kg (or one cheese up to 10 kg), vacuum-sealed sausages up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg), vacuum-packed boneless cooked or cured ham up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg), and boneless vacuum-packed meat of any species up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg) with a zoosanitary registration from the country of origin. Meat and dairy are accepted only from countries approved by AGROCALIDAD.
• Seeds, plants and other propagation material, dry grains and fresh fruit and vegetables may enter only if they meet AGROCALIDAD phytosanitary import requirements.
• Up to 2 pets may travel as personal effects. Dogs and cats need an official export health certificate from the country of origin, in Spanish or English: a clinical exam by a veterinarian within 10 days before arrival, internal and external parasite treatment within 21 days before travel, and current vaccinations (dogs: distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and rabies). Pets must be at least 3 months old, and a first rabies vaccination must be given at least 14 days before arrival. Pets arriving in the cabin or over land need only the certificate. For pets arriving as air cargo, send the documents to AGROCALIDAD at the arrival airport ([email protected] or [email protected]) at least 72 hours before arrival to obtain an import permit.
• Pets other than dogs and cats need an import permit from AGROCALIDAD.
• Travelers flying on to the Galápagos Islands must complete the online sworn goods declaration of the Galápagos Biosecurity Agency (ABG) up to 72 hours before the flight, and their baggage is inspected at the airport in Quito or Guayaquil. Seeds, fruit, live animals and unauthorized plant or animal products may not be taken to the islands.
• For travelers over 18: 3 L of alcoholic beverages, 20 packs of 20 cigarettes (400 cigarettes), 1 lb (about 450 g) of tobacco and 25 cigars.
• Perfume up to 500 ml per traveler or 1,000 ml per family group, and creams, lotions and body splash up to 2,500 ml per traveler or 5,000 ml per family group, in new containers.
• Personal effects such as clothing, toiletries, jewelry, books, children's items and one new and one used mobile phone, camera, laptop, tablet and smartwatch.
• Medicines with a medical prescription (Ecuadorian or foreign), and food supplements up to 8 kg.
• Other goods not on the official list of personal effects, worth up to USD 500 in total.
• Goods above these limits must be declared on the online Customs Registration Form (Formulario de Registro Aduanero, FRA) and duties paid. Goods worth up to USD 2,000 can be cleared at the airport.
Currency
• Cash, bearer negotiable instruments, precious metals and precious stones worth USD 10,000 or more must be declared on the online FRA before going through customs control. Failure to declare can lead to fines and confiscation.
• Non-resident foreigners who register the cash they bring in on arrival, and stay in Ecuador for up to 90 days, do not pay the currency outflow tax (ISD) when they take that money out again.
Prohibited
• Illegal drugs
• Products with soil
• Raw milk and dairy products without sanitary records, and eggs of any species
• Sausages without sanitary registration, including bone-in products
• Raw hides, and decorations made from animal by-products (feathers, bones, horns, tusks, skins, wool, animal hair) without an animal health permit
• Live animals other than pets such as dogs and cats
• Pesticides, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs; veterinary products (medicines, vaccines, animal feed, feed additives, diagnostic kits); biological products (fungi, bacteria, insects, vaccines, antibiotics)
• Semen and animal embryos
Restricted
• Firearms and ammunition may be brought in only with a prior permit from the Ecuadorian authorities; ask an Ecuadorian embassy or consulate before travel.
• All plant and animal products must be declared to AGROCALIDAD on arrival. Non-commercial amounts of frozen, cooked or preserved fruit and vegetables, roasted or dried nuts, coffee and cocoa, dried spices, flours, tea and dry herbal infusions, dried flowers and handicrafts made of wood, bamboo or plant fibers (without bark or insects) may enter after inspection.
• Industrially processed plant products may enter in their original sealed and labeled packaging.
• Properly packaged and labeled: pasteurized dairy products up to 5 kg (or one cheese up to 10 kg), vacuum-sealed sausages up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg), vacuum-packed boneless cooked or cured ham up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg), and boneless vacuum-packed meat of any species up to 5 kg (or one piece up to 10 kg) with a zoosanitary registration from the country of origin. Meat and dairy are accepted only from countries approved by AGROCALIDAD.
• Seeds, plants and other propagation material, dry grains and fresh fruit and vegetables may enter only if they meet AGROCALIDAD phytosanitary import requirements.
• Up to 2 pets may travel as personal effects. Dogs and cats need an official export health certificate from the country of origin, in Spanish or English: a clinical exam by a veterinarian within 10 days before arrival, internal and external parasite treatment within 21 days before travel, and current vaccinations (dogs: distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and rabies). Pets must be at least 3 months old, and a first rabies vaccination must be given at least 14 days before arrival. Pets arriving in the cabin or over land need only the certificate. For pets arriving as air cargo, send the documents to AGROCALIDAD at the arrival airport ([email protected] or [email protected]) at least 72 hours before arrival to obtain an import permit.
• Pets other than dogs and cats need an import permit from AGROCALIDAD.
• Travelers flying on to the Galápagos Islands must complete the online sworn goods declaration of the Galápagos Biosecurity Agency (ABG) up to 72 hours before the flight, and their baggage is inspected at the airport in Quito or Guayaquil. Seeds, fruit, live animals and unauthorized plant or animal products may not be taken to the islands.