Ecuador's Pending New Immigration Law

Daisuke211 wrote:

Hi, my 9v application is also in progress, and I'm pretty concerned about the new immigration law, too. I think my application is slower than yours, because I am still under the review of SENESCYT. Is it sure that under the new law, the 9v visa would become a temporary visa? Can it be renewed, or updated to a permanent visa in the future, or it is merely a one-time temporary visa, which means that 9v visa holders must get out of Ecuador once their visas expire?

I heard some rumor that the applicant can get a temporary visa at first which is valid for 2 years, then after 21 months, they can apply for a permanent visa. I don't know whether it would be the case, and if so, what the requirements and documents would be for temporary visa holders and PR applicants.

At this time, I just wish the new law would not take into effect soon.

In regards to the 9V professional visa, it is now a  2-year temporary resident. After 21 months, you can apply for a permanent residency. In regards to documents, I believe they are the same for temporary and permanent resident.

While the new law is in effect, how it will be applied/interpreted is different matter. Only time will tell. In the next few weeks more details should emerge as to how/what/when.....etc.

It appears the new procedures regarding the ley de movilidad will be published within a week or two.

While the person at the Dirrecion de Extranjeria who is processing my visa is in training courses, another person at the office said that applications submitted prior to last week's cutoff will be processed under the old law.

If that's true, it's good news and I would imagine the same should be true for those who currently have their visas.

Andrew242 wrote:

person at the office said that applications submitted prior to last week's cutoff will be processed under the old law....

I would imagine the same should be true for those who currently have their visas.

Thanks for the update on how things are handled in Quito.

Whether that's how new visas will be handled in the Big G or the obscure pueblo where Cuenca Expats have to go for their visas .. is speculation at this point.

As for “those who have their visas,” their processing is already complete, so what does it mean to say “the same would be true” for the processing of their visas?

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

Andrew242 wrote:

person at the office said that applications submitted prior to last week's cutoff will be processed under the old law....

I would imagine the same should be true for those who currently have their visas.

Thanks for the update on how things are handled in Quito.

Whether that's how new visas will be handled in the Big G or the obscure pueblo where Cuenca Expats have to go for their visas .. is speculation at this point.

As for “those who have their visas,” their processing is already complete, so what does it mean to say “the same would be true” for the processing of their visas?

cccmedia

It probably is country-wide. It was reported that none of the offices were accepting new visa applications this week.

As for "the same would be true" for permanent residents, I based it upon my comment that permanent resident visa applications that were submitted prior to the cutoff will be processed according to the prior law.

Thank you for the new update .

JUST SOME MORE INFO. OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I live in Tonsupa, Esmeraldas. My spouse is a "Canadian-Colombian" citizen, she is in Ecuador on a visitor's visa.
In order to ensure compliance of staying in Ecuador for her, we went to Quito on February 09 to enquire regarding a "visa extension".
Their response was still  allowance of maximum 180 days in a year, counting from her first entrance; in her case from March 30th. 2016. Thus, she could stay in Ecuador only for another 84 days as per their calculations.
As we are planning to stay in Ecuador up to May 12th. we had no other choice but to leave the country for about 10 days, then, re-enter to remain "legally" as a visitor.
Nothing was mentioned about applying / qualifying for another 90 days.
Things may change in the future, but for now, we are in Colombia just to comply with the 180 days max. allowance within a year.

MM

marcomueses wrote:

JUST SOME MORE INFO. OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I live in Tonsupa, Esmeraldas. My spouse is a "Canadian-Colombian" citizen, she is in Ecuador on a visitor's visa.
In order to ensure compliance of staying in Ecuador for her, we went to Quito on February 09 to enquire regarding a "visa extension".
Their response was still  allowance of maximum 180 days in a year, counting from her first entrance; in her case from March 30th. 2016. Thus, she could stay in Ecuador only for another 84 days as per their calculations.
As we are planning to stay in Ecuador up to May 12th. we had no other choice but to leave the country for about 10 days, then, re-enter to remain "legally" as a visitor.
Nothing was mentioned about applying / qualifying for another 90 days.
Things may change in the future, but for now, we are in Colombia just to comply with the 180 days max. allowance within a year.

MM

Max allowance was as of 2016 either 180 or 270 days. Simply put the 180 day extension can include the initial 90 day visa for a total of 180 days total per year, or can be a 180 extension to the 90 day visa for a total of 270 days. This is at their discretion and determined on a case by case basis.

Perhaps the new norm is 180 days max, but as I specifically mentioned it wasn't necessary that way last year.

We just re- enter Ecuador.
As expected, the immigration officer confirmed, due to our exiting, had complied with the 180 days max. allowance within a year. My wife has 81 more days left which allows us to stay until our schedule departure in May.
So far, no changes were mentioned regarding 90, or 180 days, or the officer at the Port of entry was not aware.

MM

Does anyone have any update regarding the Working of Azogues Ministry ( Cuenca ) ?? Are their workings back to normal or Is there still some Internal Issues going on in the Ministry ?

Have they started Issuing Residency visas ?

Also , Can please some one update me about the implementation of new Immigration Law ? Has anyone received their Residency visa recently ?  What will happen to the Residency visa cases that were filed before the Implementation of the New Immigration Law ?

Thanks

Per the visa specialist known affectionately as "Silverwater," long-term visas are not being issued, pending the preparation of the new rules being generated by the law passed by the legislature several months ago.

With a new presidential administration coming in during the coming month of April, they may want to tinker with the rules for some time.

Don't hold your breath, it could be a while yet.

As for what will happen to previously filed applications, nobody in the Expat community knows.

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

Per the visa specialist known affectionately as "Silverwater," long-term visas are not being issued, pending the preparation of the new rules being generated by the law passed by the legislature several months ago.

With a new presidential administration coming in during the coming month of April, they may want to tinker with the rules for some time.

Don't hold your breath, it could be a while yet.

As for what will happen to previously filed applications, nobody in the Expat community knows.

cccmedia

Thank you

Yes, our beloved Visa Guru!

Who has spent more time at Immigration than most of the clerks.

Thanks for sharing this cccmedia.

So all the Ministries are affected by this ( not just the Azogues Ministry ) ?

Other Ministries are also not issuing Residency visas ?

Thank you

There is only one Ministry with offices in Guayaquil, Azogues (formerly Cuenca), Manta (again after the earthquake a year ago) and Quito. Each office has its attorneys which sometimes differ over time, and clerks who have their individual levels of complete. Luck of the toss ass to who is at the desk and upon who's desk you land "upstairs" for review, with folks rotated in and out, and sweeps to remove those found to be accepting bribes, all the time.

In other words, when one Ministry office re-starts the processing of long-term visas, we expect they all will.

For newbie readers, we clarify that the Cuenca-area office of the Ministry was moved to nearby Azogues, Ecuador.   The city of Cuenca is still called Cuenca.

cccmedia

I've lived here Soong I need a translator for my English...
or simply a good post- editor !

Thanks CCC.

Susan_in_Ecuador wrote:

I've lived here Soong I need a translator for my English...
or simply a good post- editor !

Thanks CCC.

You rang?!

Soong is a Thai word meaning "so long."

cccmedia

Thank you Susan and cccmedia .

I have One more question : If a Permanent Residency visa case is rejected by Ministry in one City , can the same case be forwarded to another city(Ministry) to ask their opinion ?

What i mean to say is , If a case was rejected by Azogues Ministry ,  can the Ministry in Quito assist us in getting a visa approval using the same case file ?

Beginning Feb. 13th, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana (MREMH) in Quito was no longer accepting applications for the former category 9 immigrant visas with the exception of amparo and convenio. All of the other types of visas (professional, pensioner, investor...etc) are now two-year temp resident. As of two weeks ago in, in Quito at least, they were not accepting petitions for the new categories with the exception of temporary worker and tourist. That may have changed in the last two weeks though.

In regards to immigrant visas applications that were submitted prior to the February cutoff, they are being processed under the old law. My petition was accepted in late January and per the analyst at the dirrecion de extranejeria I should be receiving an email within the next two weeks and it shows up in their system as residente permanente-idefinido. Hopefully I should know something soon.

Amparo... convenio... applications were still accepted.

Are these refugee visas?

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

Amparo... convenio... applications were still accepted.

Are these refugee visas?

cccmedia

No, amparo is spouse/children, or relatives of Ecuadorian nationals and permanent visa holders although it may include refugees as well.

Convenio refers to the 9VII visa categories (Ecuador and Venezuela, residents of the Mercosur countries).

If a visa case is rejected by Azogues Ministry , can that case file be forwarded to other Ministry to process ?

DXBDINO28 wrote:

If a visa case is rejected by Azogues Ministry, can that case file be forwarded to other Ministry to process?

As Susan explained above, it's one ministry, so there is no "other" ministry, just offices of the same ministry in other cities.

This is the second time you've asked this question lately on this thread.  Were you rejected in Azogues?

As a rule of thumb:  if your application is not approved and you have cause to think it should have been approved, you should be "on the horn" to 'Silverwater' Dana or an experienced immigration attorney to navigate the system for you.

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

DXBDINO28 wrote:

If a visa case is rejected by Azogues Ministry, can that case file be forwarded to other Ministry to process?

As Susan explained above, it's one ministry, so there is no "other" ministry, just offices of the same ministry in other cities.

This is the second time you've asked this question lately on this thread.  Were you rejected in Azogues?

As a rule of thumb:  if your application is not approved and you have cause to think it should have been approved, you should be "on the horn" to 'Silverwater' Dana or an experienced immigration attorney to navigate the system for you.

cccmedia

Thank you . Yes, unfortunately My case was rejected .

Has the ministry restarted the long term visa application(including 2 year temporary residency visa)? I was told the visa via-cable was canceled for now. My 9v professional visa application hasn't been submitted yet.

A new administration was elected two days ago and has not yet taken office.

Would it perhaps make sense to see what the new administration decides is the "permanent" interpretation of the rules?

Common sense tells one that the correct, long-term answers to all the above questions will not be made clear today or tomorrow.

cccmedia