For many expats who retired in Ecuador, the naturalization process is rather straightforward. While subject to the same bureaucratic shenanigans endemic in Ecuador, it is not notably more difficult than getting a residency visa. However, for those who are below age 65, who aren't married to a citizen of Ecuador, aren't disabled or a refugee and didn't graduate from an Ecuadorian university, there is a major roadblock: The infamous "general knowledge" naturalization / citizenship exam.
Before 2022, the exam was printed as was the test bank / study guide. The exam covered common knowledge that "every well-educated Ecuadorian should know". That all changed with acuerdo ministerial number 811 from Silvia Yolanda Espíndola Arellano, Deputy Minister of Movilidad Humana. It placed the test and question bank online and purported to subject anyone who disclosed the question bank to "legal sanctions"2. Since then, rumors surrounding the question bank have proliferated. Many claim the test was made almost impossible to pass in order to prevent the large number of Venezuelan refugees - who are often subject to intense mistrust and discrimination - from gaining citizenship.
Unfortunately, while there are numerous purported copies of the question bank available through various websites and apps, none can be verified as authentic. Because the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana (MREMH) has not released the question bank publicly, all one can rely on are the rumors. So, while there are numerous reports of a bank of questions numbering close to 2000 with many asking about relatively unknown local artists, and native-born Ecuadorians reporting that the test is impossible, none of this can be confirmed.
What can be confirmed is this: Of the 213 adults naturalized in the 4th quarter of 2025, not a single person from an English-speaking country took the exam and gained citizenship. In the last four years, 1960 people became Ecuadorian citizens and only seven born in the USA might have taken the exam and passed. I say "might" because some or all of those seven could have been exempted from the exam by virtue of getting a university degree in Ecuador. The degree exemption was not reported by the government so we can't know for sure. No one else from an English speaking country who gained citizenship was required to take the exam as the rest were exempted due to age, disability or marriage.
Why write this article now? I had a potential client ask me about the current exam and so I submitted a request under the LOTAIP for the current question bank. LOTAIP is the law here governing public records and is the Ecuador equivalent of FOIA. The response I received was disheartening. In short, MREMH claimed that public dissemination of the question bank would thwart the purpose of the exam.3
However, if the purpose of the exam is to ensure the applicant has "general knowledge of the history, geography, culture and current reality of Ecuador"4, it seems irrational to keep that knowledge a secret. Why would that "general knowledge", which one would assume every Ecuadorian should possess, be kept confidential and exempt from disclosure? Indeed, the only reason I can see why public dissemination of the question bank would thwart the exam's purpose would be if the exam was intended not to test general knowledge but instead to prevent applicants who qualify under the law from gaining citizenship.
Notes & Sources
Soy Dr. Adam Bartlett Tredwell, abogado con matricula 11-2010-253. El 21 de junio presenté una solicitud para el banco de preguntas (MREMH-SOL-2026-023075) y la respuesta no incluia el banco de preguntas pero decia que “cuyo acceso se concede de forma única y exclusiva a las personas con un trámite de naturalización activa”. Si esto significa que MREMH alega confidencialidad o reserva basándose en una de las excepciones a la divulgación que se encuentran en Capítulo IV, Sección I de la LOTAIP, indique claramente qué excepción alega MREMH y el fundamento jurídico de dicha alegación de confidencialidad o reservación. Como alternativa, solicito nuevamente el banco de preguntas utilizado para los exámenes de ciudadanía, ya que considero que dicho banco de preguntas es información pública que debe proporcionarse conforme al Artículo 7 de la Ley Orgánica de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública y el MREMH es un “sujeto obligado” bajo Articulo 8 (a) de la LOTAIP.
Respuesta al RequerimientoSi bien el artículo 7 de la Ley Orgánica de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública (LOTAIP) establece el principio general de publicidad de la información, el ordenamiento jurídico ecuatoriano contempla excepciones taxativas cuando la difusión de los datos pueda vulnerar el correcto funcionamiento de las instituciones o el interés público. El banco de preguntas para los exámenes de adquisición de la nacionalidad ecuatoriana por naturalización se encuentra bajo régimen de reserva y confidencialidad, amparado en el Capítulo IV, Sección I de la LOTAIP. La entrega pública y masiva del banco de preguntas con sus respectivas opciones de respuesta desnaturaliza la finalidad del examen.[emphasis mine] Por los argumentos de hecho y de derecho expuestos, y con el objetivo de salvaguardar la integridad, transparencia y mérito del proceso de naturalización del Estado ecuatoriano, este Ministerio se ratifica en la imposibilidad de entregar el banco de preguntas solicitado.