What is an apostille and which of my documents need one for Ecuador?

An apostille is an international certification that authenticates the origin of a public document for use in another country. Ecuador is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. Documents that typically need apostilles for Ecuador visa applications include: birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal background checks (FBI, RCMP, ACRO, etc.), and university degrees (for Professional Visas). The apostille must be issued by the competent authority in the country that issued the original document — not by Ecuador. After apostille, documents must be translated into Spanish by a certified translator. The correct sequence is: obtain original → apostille → translate. Reversing this order creates avoidable rework.