• Mexico temporarily suspends the visa exemption for regular Ecuadorian passports.
  • This is a provisional measure that will help ensure that Ecuadorians do not fall prey to human trafficking networks.
  • This does not affect the ability of Ecuadorians to avail themselves of the immigration accommodations available to all other nationalities.

The Government of Mexico has decided to temporarily suspend the visa waiver agreement for regular Ecuadorian passports. The suspension will enter into force 15 calendar days after publication of the measure in today's Official Journal of the Federation.

The decision is based on Article Three of the unilateral 2018 visa waiver agreement, which was designed to facilitate tourism and business travel.  However, recently there has been a substantial increase in the number of Ecuadorians using the visa waiver to enter Mexico for purposes other than tourism, which does not allow the visitor to engage in paid activities.

In addition, criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling have used the visa waiver program to profit from Ecuadorians migrating illegally and using Mexico as a transit country.

Therefore, to safeguard the physical integrity and lives of Ecuadorian migrants and to help combat these criminal networks, the Mexican government has decided to provisionally reinstate the visa requirement for the holders of regular Ecuadorian passports traveling to Mexico.

This decision will help reduce the number of Ecuadorians who are denied entry to Mexico by ensuring that they have visas in advance.  The measure does not affect the ability of Ecuadorians to avail themselves of the immigration accommodations applicable to all nationalities holding valid, current visas for Canada, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, or any of the Schengen countries; or a permanent residence permit for Canada, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, or any of the Schengen countries; as well as Chile, Colombia and Peru.

Mexico is ready to work with the Ecuadorian authorities to exchange information and effectively combat human trafficking and smuggling in order to restore the visa waiver agreement as soon as possible.