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🇪🇨  Retiring in Ecuador from Australia

What Australians need to know: the visa, how your pensions are taxed, what to do before you leave and every year after.

By the retireacross editorial team · Last reviewed

Visa for Australians

Check the visa-free stay for your passport with the consulate before a trial stay. To live there you need a residence route:

  • Temporary residence for retirees (jubilado): income from 1,446 USD a month. Official page
  • Temporary residence for people with passive income (rentista): income from 1,446 USD a month. Official page

Check your figures in the visa checker

Sources: Gobierno del Ecuador: temporary residence for retirees (jubilado), procedure sheet (checked 2026-10-22) · El Universo: 2026 basic wage (SBU) set at $482 (checked 2026-10-22) · UK travel advice: Ecuador, entry requirements (checked 2026-10-22) · Cancillería del Ecuador: visas (checked 2026-10-22) · gob.ec: temporary residence visa for people with passive income (rentista) (checked 2026-10-25)

How your pensions are taxed

No tax treaty between Australia and Ecuador: Australia keeps taxing Australian-sourced income of foreign residents (with no tax-free threshold); Ecuador may tax them as a resident, so the same income can be taxed twice, with relief only if Ecuador gives a foreign tax credit.

  • State pensions: taxable in the paying country.
  • Private pensions: possibly taxed in both countries, without treaty relief.

Sources: Treasury: Australia's income tax treaties (checked 2026-10-26)

Australia: As a foreign resident for Australian tax you still declare Australian income, including Australian pensions and rent, with no tax-free threshold and no Medicare levy. Official page

Ecuador's own rules: Since December 2021 Ecuador taxes residents on foreign income too, with a credit for tax paid abroad. Since January 2024 a 'temporary tax residency' regime lets new residents who meet its conditions pay tax only on Ecuadorian-source income for five years. Inheritances and gifts are taxed under income tax rules; municipal property tax is low and there is no wealth tax.

Before you leave Australia

  1. Check when you can reach your super (Australia): Moving abroad does not unlock super: you need your preservation age (60 if born from 1 July 1964) and to retire, or to turn 65. Plan your income until then. Official page
  2. Check your Age Pension abroad: After 26 weeks outside Australia, your Age Pension depends on your years of residence between 16 and pension age: 35 years for the full rate, otherwise a proportion (10 years = 10/35ths). Supplements and the concession card stop when you leave to live abroad. Official page (from age band 65-74)
  3. Becoming a foreign resident for Australian tax: When you stop being an Australian resident, your shares and other assets that are not Australian property are treated as sold at market value (CGT event I1), unless you choose to defer it until you actually sell; Australian rent stays taxable in Australia at non-resident rates with no tax-free threshold, and foreign residents lose most of the main-residence exemption. Tell the ATO and your banks you are a foreign resident, and check your Medicare enrolment with Services Australia. Official page
  4. Tell Centrelink before you leave: Link your Centrelink account to myGov, tell Services Australia about your travel, and report your income on the business day before you leave. Away more than 12 months, you are paid every 4 weeks, into an Australian or an overseas account. Official page (from age band 65-74)
  5. Age Pension later, from abroad (Australia): The Age Pension starts at 67. Paid abroad, its rate after 26 weeks depends on your years of Australian residence between 16 and pension age (35 years for the full rate), so keep a record of them. Official page (before State Pension or Social Security age)

More for Australians

Rules and figures change and we can make mistakes: confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor before acting.