Ecuador

Nationals of signatory States may apply for a temporary residence permit of up to two years in another country of the block, and may apply for permanent residence before expiration of the temporary residence permit. These nationals are also provided work permits, the only requirements being that they present a valid passport, birth certificate and police clearance certificate.

In February 2016, a very progressive national law on human mobility was approved (recognized by ILO and UNHCR) to guarantee migrants can have identity cards etc.; and exercise all rights of Ecuadorians particularly access to high-level universal health and education, as well as access to justice.

In 2008 Ecuador initiated a National Plan for Human Development for Migration - Plan nacional de desarollo humano para las migraciones - which was a pioneer in Ecuador and Latin America for public policies that protect and promote the human rights of all migrants as well as their empowerment

This case study forms part of a series of case studies on good practices, lessons learnt and recommendations extracted from the projects supported by the Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI) to enhance migration management for local development. The experience of the JMDI shows that the most effective initiatives are anchored with local or regional authorities and carried out in a multi-stakeholder and participatory approach, including migrants and migrants’ associations or diaspora.

Prometeo Viejos Sabios is an initiative established by the government of Ecuador  to do skill mapping of diaspora and using the skills of diaspora to meet the needs of the country.  This includes identifying  the skilled migrants living abroad and the kind of projects they engage with and based on the needs of the country. They try to attract the migrants back temporarily or permanently so that they could contribute to scientific or health projects in Ecuador.  

The Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI) is a global inter-agency programme funded by the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. It focuses on the local dimension of migrants’ contribution to development and aims to maximize the potential of migration for local development. To achieve this, the JMDI provides technical and financial support to up-scale existing locally-led migration and development initiatives across 15 projects in eight target countries: Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Senegal and Tunisia.

Ecuador has negotiated a residence agreement with the countries of Mercosur and Mercosur’s associated countries with the aim of regularizing the South American migrants that are in Ecuador as well as the Ecuadorians living in countries within the region. This enables nationals and migrants alike to stay in their countries of desitnation for a specific period of time, or apply for residency after two years.

Ecuador has signed bilateral social security agreements with Chile, Colombia, Spain and Uruguay, as well as Multilateral and Ibero-American conventions on Social Security. Furthermore, the Ecuadorian State has commitments and obligations in this area, product of Community directives for the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).

The Ecuadorian government recognizes the importance of quality education that is accessible for all, as well as the importance of human capital in the development of a country. As established in article 26 of the Ecuadorian Constitution, education is a fundamental right that must be given and guaranteed by the national government.

The Ecuadorian government elaborated a project for the return of migrant teachers to the country due to the present shortage of nursery educators as well as prepared teachers for secondary education. This program forms part of one of many governmental strategies that aims at facilitating the voluntary return of Ecuadoran nationals residing abroad.