Your everything visa and cedula related Cuenca thread.

The information below was in an attachment to the word document that was attached to the email I posted above.

Dirección General de Registro Civil, Identificación y Cedulación

New Requirements for Foreigners to Acquire the CEDULA
Translated by Jane Becker, 3 August 2012
Coloaustro Abogados
GETTING A CEDULA FOR THE FIRST TIME
Foreigners can only get their Cedulas in the main offices in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil and agencies that are authorized for this purpose.

Requirements:

1. Certificate of Empadronamiento, given by the Dirección General de Extranjeria (In Cuenca, cost is $4.80 each applicant)
2. Birth Certificate, Apostilled and Translated
3. Originals and copies of current passport and visa.
4. Proof of payment to the Registro Civil
5. IF you wish to put an Education Level higher than "secundaria" (high school) on your Cedula order, you will have to prove this with a document such as a diploma, Apostilled or Certified by the Ecuadorian Consulate, Translated.
6. IF you wish to put your Profession (anything other than "Jubilado" (retired)) on your Cedula order, you will have to prove this with the original professional degree and a copy. OR, you can print out the web page from SENESCYT showing that your title has been registered in Ecuador.
7. You must prove your marital status IF it is listed as anything other than single:
-Married: Marriage certificate, Apostilled or certified by the Ecuadorian Consulate, Translated
-Widowed: Death Certificate of Spouse
- Divorced: Divorce Certificate, Apostilled or certified by the Ecuadorian Consulate, Translated
    + If you were divorced outside of Ecuador, you will need a document from the country in which you were divorced which states your legal status. This document must be apostilled or certified by the Ecuadorian consulate, Translated
    + If your divorce occurred in Ecuador, you must show what is called a documento integral, which essentially shows your marriage certifiate and divorce certificate in the same document.
8. For people with disabilities, you must show the original and a copy of the CONADIS card from Ecuador.
9. A utility bill with your address on it (this requirement is not listed in the original document, but we have been informed that it will be necessary).

If your birth certificate does not state the place of birth of your parents, you will have to sign a sworn statement saying the place of birth of your parents.

COST: Renewal $10.00, Duplicate: $15.00, First time: $5.00

The Certificado del Movimiento is a piece of paper certifying that the immigration policed looked at your passport.

I had to get a one for my 6 month extension and will need to get another one for my residency visa application. I think it costs $5.

Here is the immigration office:



Here is the street the office is on, off of Gran Columbia, where the Banco del Pacifico is located.


Here is the name of the street: Eduardo Muñoz



And if that is not enough information for you, here is a link to the openstreetMap that shows the office as little handcuffs.

The attorney contact information is as follows:

Jane Becker
English Language Legal Assistant
Coloaustro Abogados
Telephone: (593)(07) 4103647
Cell Phone: 087439735, 085021720
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.coloaustro.net
Skype: coloaustro.abogados

How did I become a client of this law firm (or at least on their mailing list)? They were recommended to me by one of Cuenca's finest expats, Deke Castleman, a contributor to Cuenca Highlife and Today in Ecuador.

Peeps, I made the front page of the Gringo Tree again!! Here is my ad. I will post responses tomorrow.

Seeking Certified Translator

As part of my application for a residency visa, I will require certain documents be translated into Spanish. From what I have been told, the certified translator needs to place a special embossed seal on each page translated. I have received one reference, but wanted to know if there is any place in town I can just walk into in order to have this done.

Please contact Nards at [email protected]

Here is a recap of the responses. Interestingly I was under the assumption that I would need to have the translator accompany me to the notary, but the first answer puts that into question.
 
Another assumption I had was the translator needs to be certified. I am not so sure on that. It doesn't mention it on immigration visa website, and based on some of the responses, it sounds as if people have been translating documents for gringos without being certified.

I am going to try the first suggestion below. I will let you know how it turns out.

Hi. Go to the language department at the University of Cuenca. One of the office administrators there do a great job and the price is $10 per page. That's a great price because I was quoted as high as $40 per page from different offices in Cuenca. They also speak English and the work is perfect. Good luck!

All you need is the translators signature on the document and copy of her cedula. Take the documents to Notaria Segundo and they can do it for you. Very reasonable cost. I just completed my Cedula without a lawyer. I saved a lot of money. For the Cedula you need to speak reasonable Spanish or get a Spanish speaking person to go with you.

I found out that you also needed copies of the original documents in English notarized as well.

It's (Notaria Segundo) across the street from the Mall millennium. You go south west on the street where the court house is located. You will see the sign outside the building. It's on the second floor.

I do translations for $50 a page all costs included including notary certification. Apostilles free.

David Beyer
For client policies, please see:
http://www.expatguide365.com/clientpolicies.pdf

Hi! I read your post on gringo tree. IŽm not a certified translator; however, I do help many gringos translating the necessary documents to get their visas. I translate them from english to spanish and then get them notarized. When I go notarize them, the notary puts the seal on them and signs them as he certifies those are true translations.

Let me know if that would help. Cristabell Aguirre [email protected]

Your information is somewhat correct. All documents that you will need for your visa must be translated into Spanish and notarized. Immigration recommends one of the Spanish language schools. Nexus language school, is a 10 minute walk from the immigration office. The usual charge for translation is about $10 per page and you should be able to get everything notarized for about $40

"Wall Street" across from the big stadium in the area of supermaxi $15.00 a page. the lady usually takes 24 hours for 2 or 3 days.

You can contact Patricio @
084769762

Very friendly and good rates.

We used the services of Elizabeth Rodas for certified, notarized translations of our birth certificates for applying for citizenship.  She was accurate, on time (literally over night usually|) and thorough.  She works at CEDEI school behind Colegio Benigno Malo..  CEDEI is on Fredrico Prano at Aurelia Aguilar, literally on the corner.  Her number is (07) 408 1491 and her cell is 09 900 8072.  Tell her Don Smith recommended her to you.

Abraham Lincoln center-  They  have certified translators in cuenca, the place is located at Honorato Vazquez y Presidente Borrero. YOu should be able to find online the phone numbers. I helped you because I use the translators in there for fix my visa.

Amchamc.com. Ecuadorian Américan Chamber of Commerce in Cuenca could help connect with certified translations.

Mr Nards:

My brother Eco. Juan Carlos Leon  and me working as certified translators of the Court of Justice.

You can visit us in the mornings in Juan Jaramillo 8-27 and Luis Cordero street in downtown area.

Regards


Saludos  Cordiales,
Dra. Mayra León V.
Cell:091574875

Hello.

A friend of mine forwarded me an e-mail that stated that you were looking for a certified translator. Let me know if you still need help with that, if you do, please send me the details on what kind of documents you need to get translated.

At your service.

Mauricio Reyes

(+593) 084809488
[email protected]

LA JUDICATURA BUILDING ACROSS THE MILENIUM PLAZA HAS A LIST OF CERTIFIES TRANSLATORS

Hello Nards,

I noticed your ad in GringoTree and wanted to offer you my services.

As I also work in a lawyer's office and am an official translator for the Notaria 9na, I am aware of the
requirements that you need for what they call an ''Acknowledgement of Signature''. You will need the
notary to recognise the translator's signature to acknowledge that the translation is authentic.

For this process of translation and getting the document stamped by the Notary, it will be $15 per page that needs to be translated. This includes the entire process.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information. You can reach me at this email: [email protected] or 086630293

Thank you,
Alicia
--
Ulloa & Zamora
Asesores Ecuador CIA. LTDA.
www.living-in-ecuador.comwww.uz.inmobiliaria.com

Hi!  I can help with you with the translation!  I charge $ 15 the page and if you need it notarized there is an extra fee of $ 25.00 PLUS the cost at the Notary.
Let me know!!

Cathy Vicente cathyvicente@hotmail.

Cathy Vicente de Sempértegui

Facilitator & Translator
ATIEC-member   www.atiec.org

Hello,

I saw your post in Gringo Tree.

There's a guy named Daniel Monsalve is a translator licensed by the courthouse.

Ph: 099878484

Getting a notary was not something I did very often in the United States, but since I arrived in Ecuador I have done it a number of times including once in the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil.

Well, in the comment from yesterday above, the first reply in the list has the following statement:

I found out that you also needed copies of the original documents in English notarized as well.

This immediately raised a "WTF" reaction from me since intuitively it made no sense to me. There are two purposes of a notary seal:

One function of a notary seal is to certify a document as being a bona fide copy of an original document.

Another purpose is to verify the identity of a person who signs a document.

In the case of birth certificate and/or a police report, they are original documents and they do not require our signatures.  I guess they could make us sign our birth certificates or police reports, but that doesn't make much sense to me.

Of course, regardless of whether it makes sense, we are going to do what is asked by us of the immigration officers.

Since I am still in the visa process, one objective of mine right now is to get the apostilled police report translated from English into Spanish:

The relevant citation from the immigration website is as follows:

Todo documento en idioma extranjero deberá estar debidamente traducido y contar con el reconocimiento de firma del traductor ante un notario público.

(Tranlation by me:) Every document in a foreign language should be dutifully translated and have the signature of the translator recognized before a notary public.

That has been interpreted by many to mean that the translator should appear before the notary public. However, as I mentioned before, one person said that it was enough for them to make a copy of the translator's cedula and take it with them to the notary, so that the notary can compare the signature of the translator on the translated document with the signature on their cedula.

I went to a few notary offices around Millenium Mall yesterday around 2:30 p.m. and I couldn't understand why the employees were not helping many customers.  I had asked an employee if I could get something notarized and they told me the doctor (lawyer) wasn't in. I was scratching my heading thinking I don't need to see the doctor. Rather, I need a copy of my passport notarized, and that these employees should be able to take care of it for me.

I found out that the lawyer who runs the office is required to sign off on the notary and that the lawyers don't get back from lunch until 3:30 p.m. So no notaries are issued between the hours of 2:30 and 3:30.

Anyway, I went back this morning and got my notary. Another lesson learned.

I changed my mind on the tranlator.  I decided to go with the following reply.

Hello Nards,

I noticed your ad in GringoTree and wanted to offer you my services.

As I also work in a lawyer's office and am an official translator for the Notaria 9na, I am aware of the
requirements that you need for what they call an ''Acknowledgement of Signature''. You will need the
notary to recognise the translator's signature to acknowledge that the translation is authentic.

For this process of translation and getting the document stamped by the Notary, it will be $15 per page that needs to be translated. This includes the entire process.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information. You can reach me at this email: uz.asesoresservicios[at]gmail.com or 086630293

Thank you,
Alicia
--
Ulloa & Zamora
Asesores Ecuador CIA. LTDA.
www.living-in-ecuador.comwww.uz.inmobiliaria.com

I selected them because

1) they were located right by the notary offices near the millenium plaza

2.) they said they would do the full process for $15 a page, including notary, which was reasonable

3.) the person who wrote the email used proper english grammar which made me think they were qualified for the job.

Well it turns out the person who did the translation was a gringa from the United States. I won't make a recommendation at this point, since I want to confirm it is accepted.

I didn't need to take the document to a notary since they had already taken care of that. Here is a scan of the official seal.

I entered the country on a T-3 visa, which allows you stay in the country for 90 days per calendar year (not necessarily consecutive). The T-3 visa is stamped in your passport at the airport.

I then extended my visa for 6 months using the 12-IX Visa, whose requirements are explained here.

I was at the immigration office last week and was told something that surprised me.  I am allowed to extend my visa for another 3 months using the 12-X visa whose requirements are explained here.

While I am planning to apply for my residency visa next week using a 9:II visa, it is good to know that I have another option available to me in case my paperwork is not in order.

I will be going to pick up some passport photos at the shop Galo Torres Fotografias recommended by this blogger. Apparently it is located at the corner of Simon Bolivar 4-95 y Mariano Cueva which you can find here on the map.

While my laundry list of requirements from "my lawyer" indicates 6 passport photos, I am highly skeptical I will need more than 1.

However, since the photo shop gives you a bunch for around $2, I am not going split hairs.

Filling out the visa applications can be challenging. You hear different things from different people on whether you have to use Spanish on the forms. I know while doing the 6 month extension, I had to redo my application in Spanish, despite the fact some friends of mine submitted theirs in English and it was accepted. 

For the residency visa application, I am filling out the form all in Spanish. Here are some of the words and abbreviations I am employing.

Country Abrreviation: EEUU
Country: Estados Unidos de America
Nationality: Estadounidense

And of course, remember the way you write your dates is different in Spanish.
You reverse the month and day so for today's date I write it as 23/09/2012.

Update:
The visa application is in both English and Spanish, so this adds a little to the confusion of what language you can use to fill out. I think the language that is accepted depends on the person who is helping you. Filling it out in Spanish might save you another trip to their office.

I received a great tip the other day in response to a Gringo Tree ad which probably would have saved me a trip to Guayaquil.

I went to Guayaquil to get a form notarized at the U.S. Consulate that I needed for a birth certificate I had ordered from Vitalchek.com.

The birth certificate is now a requirement for the Cedula (Ecuadorian identity Card) and some people need the birth certificate for their visa application if they have had a name change during their life, as a result of a divorce or whatever.

Here is the tip that might have saved me that trip.

Nards, if you need something notarized for the U.S. I recently used an online notary service at https://notary.signnow.com/ that worked great.  It costs $15 and you need a computer camera so they can confirm that it's you.  It takes about 15 minutes.  Good luck!

In any case, it was a pretty interesting trip to Guayaquil, so no regrets. I used this van service to get to Guayaquil and stayed at this excellent bed and breakfast which is managed by blogger extraordinaire, Dom Buonamici (whatup Dom).

One word of advice about going to the consulate: don't bring anything you don't need with you--such as a backpack-- because they will search your backpack twice, and temporarily confiscate things like phones, ebook readers, tablets etc.

Also, I was thinking that given how foggy it sometimes gets going through the Cajas mountains, I think I might pick midday to travel if at all possible.

By the way, as explained here, you make appointments at the U.S. Consulate online using this link.

Jane:

Well...I am completing plans to come to Cuenca for three months, with the intention of permanently relocating there.  But, after a life of Big Responsibilities, your post about a cedula and what seems to be an antecedent document, the umm, what-a-what-a-mento, kinda floors me.

So, accepting your offer of a response to a query: I will be bringing my passport and my birth certificate.  What else must I bring, and what procedure must I follow, where and with what time frame, to obtain whatever documentation to settle in Cuenca for three months and, hopefully, live there the rest of my life?

Bonus Question: I assume you operate a business which offers assistance with this process; I would appreciate knowing what those services are and what the charges would be.

Thank you,

Dick Wilke

Dick,

Jane is a legal assistant for the law firm Coloaustro Abogados, which I strongly recommend over the husband and wife team promoted by the for profit Canadian bloggers. However, you can do the whole process of applying for residency by yourself, without the help of any lawyer. Since I am on their mailing list, I copied an email I received from them onto this forum. She doesn't actually answer questions on this forum. Their email address is legalassistance[at]coloaustro.net.

If you are planning to live here permanently, I recommend you bring in addition to your passport the documents listed below. While these documents can be obtained while in Cuenca, you will save yourself time, money and aggravation if you do it in advance of your arrival.

1. An apostilled Police Report from your home state
2. An apostilled Birth Certificate from the state where you were born.

The procedures for obtaining these documents should be explained on governmental websites. If you tell what those states are, I can find the websites for you if you like.

Update:
Since you apparently live in Texas, this may be a good place to start:
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra … es/faq.htm

Read your post.  This looks like there should be some additional data on the requirements attached to this email.  If this is so, could you post that also?
Thanks

Oops!  Just saw the additional posts.  Request answered.  Thanks

This topic is of great interest to me.  I live in New York and plan to relocate to Cuenca next year, Lord willing.  I plan to visit Cuenca for 3 weeks in October to November to get to know the place.  One reason I am interested in this thread is that I am a US citizen who was born in the West Indies. 
- How would the Apostilled birth certificate work for me?
- In case it takes a long time to get it from the West Indies (and I know it will), if I try to be proactive and get it early, would the early date present a problem?
- Is there anything that I can do while there for 3 weeks?

Thanks for your input.

Pulpeddoes,

I am no expert, since I am going through the process now, but getting your birth certificate early presents no problem. The one thing you need to verify is whether your country has an apostille process, since that depends on whether they entered into a treaty with other countries.  If not, then you need to get the birth certificate legalized by an Ecuadorian consulate in your country, if there is one.

Keep in mind that the cedula is not a requirement for obtaining residency. It is an identification card that supposedly simplifies your life in Ecuador. For instance, many banks require one in order to open a checking account. I am convinced I could get by fine without one if I had to, although if the objective is to get an Ecuadorian passport someday, I think you will need it eventually.

Thanks very much Nards.  I appreciate the input.  Now I can know how to proceed.

Mr. Barley:

You are indeed a fine guy to reply so fulsomely to my (mistaken) love note to Jane. At another location on this Forum, I offered an adult beverage to any who replied, and you certainly did.

I went to the website you provided, and it is a state crime report facility. I have spent my entire career in the real estate biz, which many would say qualifies as a Life Of Crime. However, I have no arrest record.  The State seems to offer two types of report, name-based and fingerprint-based. I guess if I bring (or obtain after I relocate to Cuenca) both, I'm covered. I was born in New Jersey, and will bring my original B.C., stamped with the great seal of NJ, but I suppose this appostilled term you use refers to some certification of the authenticity of the certified B.C.  Can't be too careful with those gringos, I guess.

I haven't the nerve to ask any of the 75 questions that this multiheaded topic of visa/K-12/appostilled/etc brings up, save this one: Am I safe showing up in Cuenca with my US Passport, my NJ Birth Certificate and my Visa Card, and figuring I can jump through all those hoops during the ninety days which are the prelude to living there permanently?  Or must I scurry about now?

Hope to shake your hand in November.

Dick Wilke

Dick,

Yes, you will have no problem coming to Cuenca and staying for 90 days with just those items. You will also probably have no problem extending for another 6 months with just those items, and possibly another 90 days beyond that.

By the way,

For Texas apostille info check out this link:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml

While for New Jersey apostille info check out this link:

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/revenue … lles.shtml

Good Luck.

One of the considerations when coming to Cuenca to live is deciding whether to buy a round-trip airline ticket, and when to schedule the return flight.

If you are planning to come here to live, and have no definite plans for a return flight back to the U.S.A., I would buy a one-way ticket, assuming it is cheaper.

When I came to Cuenca, I was worried about about whether immigration would check on arrival to see if I had a return ticket, but they didn't, and they don't. My return ticket was for the end of the initial 90-day period, because even though I was expecting to stay indefinitely, it made no sense to me to have a return ticket with a departure date that was dependent on the granting of a subsequent visa.

When it came time to extend my visa, I presented the return airline ticket as required, but the immigration agent told me it needed to be for a date in the subsequent visa period which had yet to be granted to me. Doh! I then asked him if it could be a flight to Columbia, but he told me NO!, it had to be back to the U.S. I think that he was wrong on that, because I know another expat who extended their visa with a ticket to Columbia.

So, I ended up booking a REFUNDABLE one-way ticket back to the U.S. for $785 with Expedia.com, which I promptly cancelled after my visa was issued, and received a full refund.

Update: I should add that the reason I didn't reschedule the return ticket to a later date was because they wanted a $300 change fee.

I met some new people tonight over at my neighbors who are submitting all their documents for the investor's visa tomorrow and who have made multiple trips to the immigration office in recent weeks asking questions. Immigration even gave them an official checklist which I hope to make a copy of tomorrow and will post on this thread.

Three notable things they said

1.) police report can only be 90 days old at the time you submit your paperwork.
2.) apostilled birth certificate must be submitted with the visa application (this one confused me because everyone is talking about it being a necessary requirement for the cedula)
3.) The agents working the desks in the immigration office can't stand lawyers, and get pissed when people show up with them.

I should be able confirm some of these declarations in the coming days.

We have got the top visa/cedula immigration discussion thread in all of Cuenca going on here and somebody is asking for advise on attorneys. I feel totally insulted.

I sent off the email below to Jane at Coloaustro Abogados this morning, although I am not entirely sure Jane still works there.

Regardless, if they don't respond to my "fishing expedition" by tomorrow afternoon, I no longer consider myself a client and I am retracting my recommendation posted earlier in the thread.

Instead, my new favorite attorney will be the one recommended here, whose email address can be found here.

Hello Jane,

After much difficulty I obtained my apostilled police report.  I am intending to make the required deposit at the bank this week and then bring all my documents to your office.

However, I am concerned about a couple of things. While I don't know if it is accurate, I was told by another expat that the apostilled birth certificate would need to be submitted with the visa application. I thought it would need to provided with the cedula application, which could be done after the visa is received?

I am still waiting on the apostilled birth certificate. I was also told that the my police report had to be less than 90 days old at the time of submitting the visa application. What concerns me is that the police report may expire before my birth certificate arrives from the states.

My question is do you have an updated requirements document for the investor's visa? The last one I received from your firm stated that police report could be 5 years old, so I am not sure it is current.

Thanks

Well peeps,

the expats I met the other day had their facts wrong! Here is what they said to me in an email this morning.

Hi Nards,Long day.... Good news the birth certificate is not  needed for your residency visa only your. sedula, which is two months after residency visa, so you have time! They accepted our JEP C.D. so we are making progress! Hope this helps.

Looks like I am back in driver's seat. Stay tuned for more great commentaries.

P.S.

ABGN

Well, I am happy to report that Jane is still working at Coloaustro Abogados, and that they are still my attorneys and that I am still a client (if only figuratively), and that I still recommend them.

I was going to post the full email I received, but I read the following disclsoure:

**CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE **
This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or forwarding of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail or telephone, and delete the original message immediately.

Hopefully an angry blogger (Frugal, Canadian or otherwise) doesn't turn me in for my earlier disclosures.

Nonetheless, I will risk it by providing a short excerpt.

The Apostilled birth certificate is ONLY a requirement for the visa if you have to prove a family relationship (father to son, for example). If you are applying on your own, or with a spouse, it has not historically been required and is still not listed on the website as a requirement (http://www.mmrree.gob.ec/servicios/req_visas_inm.asp

Just about every visa application for residency or tourism requires a signed petition (a letter) stating why you are requesting a visa.

Here is the one I just prepped. Most of the text is plagiarized from a older version of an application that I found on the internet. They could laugh it and reject it, so we will have to wait and see.

16 de Octubre de 2012


Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Avenida Ordóñez Lasso y Guayacán
Cuenca, Ecuador

Estimados Señores:

Yo, Nards Barley, ciudadano de Estados Unidos, pasaporte no. XXXXXXXX,  me dirijo a ustedes con el objeto de manifestarle que tengo interés en radicarme en el Ecuador en una manera permanente, ya que me gusta  mucha el pais y la cultura, y eventualmente quisiera hacer una contribucion a la sociedad en alguna manera.

Por eso, en calidad de inmigrante al amparo de la VISA 9-II solicito se sirva considerar esta petición a efectos de que se autorice a quien corresponda, el otorgamiento de la Visa mencionada, para lo cual incluyo el Formulario De Solicitud De Visa De Inmigrante y otros documentos cuyos datos aseguro son verdaderos.

Gracias por su consideración.


Nards Barley
anti-blogger

I completed my 25,000 investment with a one year term into a certificate of deposit at Bank Pichincha the other day. The branch I used is locatedhere on the map. You need to climb up to the 4th floor, turn right, walk through the glass doors ("tercer piso") and ask for Omar. 

The only requirements were my passport and a current utility bill that reflects your current address. The utility bill does not need to be in your name.

I wrote a check on a checking account in the United States to fund the investment. It took about two and a half weeks to complete the process. If I had wired the money, the process would have been much faster.

They are paying me a rate of 5.5 percent. The gringos who I mentioned a few comments back made their investment with the cooperative JEP and received over 9 percent on their investment. While the word was that immigration wasn't accepting certificates of deposit from cooperatives for purposes of the investment visa, apparently that is no longer the case, at least not in the case of JEP.

Update: By the way, the first thing I did when I received my certificate was to make a color copy and have it notarized, since a notarized copy in addition to the original must be submitted to immigration.

I hate to sound slow, but here goes.  Does that mean that the investment is held for one year and after that period, you can withdraw the whole thing if you need to do so?

Thanks much.

Pulpeddoes,

My understanding is you must keep the funds in the bank indefinitely, or until you obtain citizenship. I am not sure why immigration specifies a minimum term of one year for the certificate of deposit when apparently it will be necessary to maintain the funds in the bank for a period greater than one year. I wonder if there will be something required of me to do after one year when the CD expires, or whether the bank will automatically renew it. I will try to find that out in the next couple months.

I went to immigration yesterday and presented all my documents for the 9-II investors visa. The lady at the desk scrutinized them pretty closely.  She had me pay the 30 dollar application fee and told me that it would take up to 60 days, and that they would call or email me if there were any problems.

Since my 6 extension expires in 30 days, I wonder what happens if they suddenly decide between day 31 and day 60 that they are rejecting my visa on some technicality. I guess I will be an illegal at that point, or as they like to say in Ecuador "undocumented".

/begin rant

Obviously anyone can create a blog and anyone can voice an opinion or provide advise on any topic they want, regardless of whether they are knowledgeable on the subject or not. And of course, they are also free to delete any comments made by readers who challenge that advise or who are not swooning with praise over what they write.

/end rant

So why the rant? Well, I read this article from my RSS feed today.

I do agree with the following statement in the article:

That's a loaded question!

The first thing you should do is contact an Ecuadorian consulate or the embassy in the country where you live. They can provide you with the most up-to-date details.

While he covers himself from any factual errors in the article with the above statement, I think bloggers should provide more context to their advise, instead of making absolute statements like the following:

You'll need at least two originals of your birth certificate for each person applying for residency, and at least two originals of your marriage or divorce license.

In other words, explain how you formed that recommendation. Did his lawyer ask him to submit those documents when he applied for residency two years ago, and now he assumes everyone has to do the same. Or did he recently call and asked about the requirements from the local immigration office?

I saw this post on Gringo Tree this morning:

Thank You to Everyone

We received over 100 responses to my question regarding documents needed for applying for our residency before leaving Oregon for Cuenca. Now we are able to come prepared because of everyone's help. GringoTree Rocks!!!! Linda

That is probably the best way to get current information on the visa or cedula process instead of relying on the self-anointed gurus of everything Ecuador, aka "bloggers"!!

Of course I relied on the Cuenca's foremost husband and wife lawyer tandem for advise and you can see what headaches that caused me.

P.S.
ABGN!!!!!!!

I am enjoying your "rants" and using your information to prepare for our spring ingress to Ecuador.  We just returned from our six month sojourn in Ecuador, both the coast and the Andes.  Looking forward to our return but not to the hideous red tape mentality of the immigration police.  We had applied for our 12-X in the states, received it there and yet still had to deal with them when we arrived.  My wife's passport was stamped incorrectly on arrival and this created a "difficulty" for all of the administrators we met. Took three days just to sort that out!  So, being prepared is not always enough.  Good luck with your visa.
Ed

I much appreciate your insights and experiences Nards. Maybe all those seeking residency in the US should have to go through a process like this.