The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in Quito has verbally notified Fragomen that it will no longer reschedule visa stamping appointments. However, this change has yet to be published officially.

Although a personal appearance from the foreign national is not necessary during visa stamping appointments, original passports must be submitted to MoFA for visa stamping. If the passport is not available for submission, the appointment will not be rescheduled, and the visa application will be archived.  In such cases, a new visa application must be filed.

At this time, the MoFA office in Guayaquil is still allowing rescheduling of visa stamping appointments.

What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals
Foreign nationals must consider that visa stamping appointments cannot be rescheduled without filing a new visa application.  Therefore, they should schedule their travels and other plans around their visa stamping appointments when possible.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to lar@fragomen.com

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