Ecuadorian birth certificate from the US: US$3 to US$6 at a consulate

Ecuadorian birth, marriage and death records are kept by the Dirección General de Registro Civil, Identificación y Cedulación (DIGERCIC), and from the United States they are requested in person at an Ecuadorian consulate. There are two different documents: the registry-data certificate (certificado de datos registrales), a summary that costs US$3.00, and the copy of the registry record or full record (copia del acta registral, partida íntegra), with the complete detail of the entry, which costs US$6.00 (fees published by Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry on gob.ec, checked October 3, 2026). The gob.ec pages we checked describe only the in-person channel.

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Which document you need

gob.ec distinguishes the documents this way:

DocumentWhat it containsConsular fee2023 Fee Schedule item
Registry-data certificate (birth, marriage, death, de facto union)“Información resumida registrada en la base de datos de la DIGERCIC” (summary information from the DIGERCIC database)US$3.006.1.6
Identity and civil-status certificateThe information on the cédulaUS$5.006.1.4
Copy of the registry record / partida íntegra (birth, marriage, death, de facto union, gender registration)“El detalle completo del registro original, las firmas de la persona que realizó la inscripción y las marginaciones o subinscripciones” (full detail, signatures and annotations)US$6.006.1.7

Annotations (marginaciones) are entries added after the original registration: gob.ec mentions name changes, notorious possession of surnames, divorce judgments and separation of property. If a procedure needs to see those annotations, the document that shows them is the full record, not the certificate.

According to gob.ec, the birth certificate and birth record are “solo para ecuatorianos” (for Ecuadorians only).

Fees and discounts

Washington publishes different amounts. Its certificate and record-copy page lists “Certificado $8 en Money Order (único medio de pago aceptado)” and “Copia de Acta Registral $11 en Money Order (único medio de pago aceptado)” (page posted August 25, 2022; checked October 17, 2026). Money Order is its only accepted payment method. These office-specific amounts differ from the national tariff below.

gob.ec fees, checked October 3, 2026 (no VAT on any):

  • Registry-data certificate: US$3.00.
  • Identity and civil-status certificate: US$5.00.
  • Copy of the registry record: US$6.00.
  • If a third party who must pay the third-party information request applies: US$2.00 extra.
  • People with a disability of 30% or more: US$0.00, showing the disability card issued by the Ministry of Public Health.

The pages for these certificates mention only the disability exemption; they do not mention the 50% discount for people 65 and older that appears on other consular services.

Requirements

To request your own record, gob.ec asks for:

  • Cédula or passport to verify the applicant’s identity.
  • Proof of payment.

Requesting someone else’s record

The gob.ec pages for the registry-data certificate and the record copy set three groups:

  1. Close relatives of the record holder (father or mother, father- or mother-in-law, son- or daughter-in-law, adult son or daughter): may request it “sin costo adicional” (at no extra cost), showing their original valid cédula or passport.
  2. Other relatives (grandparents, siblings, siblings-in-law, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces, cousins and others gob.ec lists): bring a simple authorization letter signed by the record holder or proof of the extra payment for the third-party information request.
  3. A lawyer unrelated to the record holder: may request it at an extra cost, with the same authorization letter or extra payment.

The combined identity and civil-status certificates page exempts these people from filling out and paying the third-party request: parents and minor children, registered spouses and partners, and the representatives or relatives of a record holder with a registered disability of 30% or more.

Step by step

For Washington, the office’s instructions allow one appointment per person and one procedure per appointment. The appointment lasts 30 minutes. The office does not handle applications without an appointment or with incomplete documents (checked October 17, 2026).

According to gob.ec:

  1. Request a slot or appointment at the consular office. The Foreign Ministry appointment system is at citas.cancilleria.gob.ec.
  2. Arrive 10 minutes early for your appointment.
  3. Present the required documents.
  4. Pay under the Consular and Diplomatic Fee Schedule.
  5. Review and confirm the information on the document.
  6. Receive the final document on paper.

To find your consulate, see Ecuador consulates in the US or consulates by state.

How long it is valid

The gob.ec pages disagree:

  • Registry-data certificate and record copy: “2 meses desde el día de su emisión” (2 months from the date of issue).
  • Combined identity and civil-status certificates page: “Tres meses. Una vez expedido el certificado dispondrá de 90 días para presentar en cualquier trámite que necesite hacer” (three months; 90 days to present it).

Given that difference, ask the office that will receive the document how recent it must be before you request it.

Using it in the US: apostille

Ecuador is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. According to gob.ec’s apostille page (updated September 16, 2025), “todos los documentos físicos y electrónicos de la Dirección General de Registro Civil, Identificación y Cedulación pueden ser apostillados directamente, sin necesidad de otras legalizaciones adicionales” (all DIGERCIC documents can be apostilled directly, with no other legalization).

  • The Foreign Ministry’s online portal, serviciosdigitales.cancilleria.gob.ec, lists birth, marriage, death, and identity and civil-status certificates among its documents. That portal handles public documents “que se generan en línea y cuenten con firma electrónica” (generated online with an electronic signature).
  • The apostille costs US$30.00 (gob.ec, checked October 3, 2026) and arrives by email.

See the details in apostilling Ecuadorian documents.

What you cannot do from the US

  • Count on the online route working from the US. The Registro Civil’s gob.ec page for record copies describes an online route — create an account in its Agencia Virtual, choose “Certificados Simples y/o Copias de Actas Registrales del Titular”, pay and download — but says that if the record is not digitized you must go to a Registro Civil office, and it does not say whether the portal accepts users or payments from abroad.
  • Request an Ecuadorian birth record for someone never registered in Ecuador. If your child was born in the US, the birth must be registered first; see registering a US-born child. For the US birth certificate itself, see vital records by state.

Marriage and death

The same fees apply to marriage, death and de facto union certificates and records. According to gob.ec, these certificates contain information registered in the DIGERCIC database; to register a US marriage or death with Ecuador, see:

Your US immigration status

The gob.ec requirements for these certificates are a cédula or passport and proof of payment; they do not ask for US immigration documents.

Official sources

Last verified: 2026-10-17. General procedural information for educational purposes. Consular fees and requirements change. Verify directly with your Ecuadorian consulate and the Civil Registry before paying. Not legal advice.