Young family thinking of moving to Ecuador

langone7 wrote:

What do you do for extra income?...

If you got a permanent residency, would they ever request you to leave just because?

Welcome to the Ecuador forum, Langone.

Most of us here on the Ecuador forum who already live in Ecuador do not work full-time anymore.

Beyond any pensions or other steady income from home sources .. some find extra work from online jobs or freelancing .. or assisting other Gringos in anything that requires bi-lingual aid from visas to automobile matters to real estate.  Some start or buy into a business, although the language barrier and local ways of doing things make that tricky.

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No one can reliably answer your question as to whether you might ever be deported "just because."  Personally, I doubt they would kick out a law-abiding Gringo family that is putting money into the economy.  But things change and "ever" is a long time.  There's nothing obvious on the horizon right now to think this will be occurring to any Expats.

cccmedia in Quito

langone7 wrote:

My husband and I dont know Spanish. I would have every intention of learning as I would want to fit in and make friends the best I can. How have you learned Spanish? Was it incredibly difficult? [

I started learning Spanish in high school after taking French, which made things incredibly easy at the time.

How well you will do with it will depend on your level of motivation, your stick-to-it-ness, previous language experiences outside English and your inherent abilities in language.

My favorite technique during my first two years was to watch DirecTV with DVR, pausing the movie or program frequently to look up words on wordreference.com or in a dual-language dictionary.  It was enjoyable because I was watching programs of my choice and upgrading my Spanish abilities consistently.  Even an hour a day of real time doing this for two years will give you abilities far beyond the average Gringo.

cccmedia in Quito

langone7 wrote:

looking at Ecuador and we already get a $900 monthly lifetime stipend.

Under the longstanding residency-visa rules, $900 may not be enough.

The minimum for the principal visa applicant is $800 per month if your basis for application is pension(s) and other consistent income.  However, with dependents, in this case three dependents, that amount is raised by $100 per month per individual, meaning a minimum of $1,100 in your family's case.

For an easy read on types of Ecuadorian visas available, google:

    vivatropical.com Ecuador visas

-- cccmedia in Quito

Hello,

Here's a great website to learn Spanish at your leisure (asynchronous) if you don't have time to attend a course: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

This BBC language learning site offers interactive lessons in various languages.
There are numerous links such as:
*Test Yourself which is a proficiency test to determine your level of Spanish;
*Spanish News, TV & Radio (listen to BBC El Mundo);
*BBC Free Lessons & Courses Online which contain audio, video, games, vocab and interactive activities to test your various language skills with instant feedback;
*Mi Vida Loca, an interactive learning video drama to complete in 12 weeks with a proficiency exam;
   and finally, sublinks focusing on separate skills, e.g., Spanish Phrases, Spanish Vocab, Grammar, Pronunciation, etc.

Regards,
PS

There is no reason why you couldnŽt make a go of it over here, but that all depends on what kind of life you are after, I came here nearly 6 years ago and live in manabi on the coast, i would suggest coming out for a 3 month holiday if you can before you commit to anything, you will have a culture shock and be well out of your comfort zone, but this is something you can adjust to over time if you can manage that, i say this as i have seen/heard of many people come out here for a new life to be back on the plane within a few weeks of being here, not what they thought it was. Spanish will be very important as you will come across many obstacles, but most of us can give you advice and contact details for legal reasons etc, houses vary in price depending what your price range you can have a nice family home even in a safe secure gated community for less than 50k, jobs is a touchy subject, if you are say a doctor or teacher then it is pretty easy, but if your profession becomes worthless over here then starting a business would be a good idea, food sells, Most expats are pretty much retired so only have the issue of buying a house and living off their pensions, others buy property to rent out. i have a boy but he is ecuadorian ,4 years old his school is great ,and  speaks both languages, if you want more information or contact directly then you can view my blog of ecuador might answer a few of your questions , there are plenty of people who will help you over here, but it is always good to have a plan and try to avoid problems that we have all encountered, hope this helps http://ecuadorlivingparadise.blogspot.com/

I disagree with one thing Brother Kendrick stated -- that if you are a doctor or a teacher it'll be easy to get a job.

That may be true for a few teachers in a single subject, English.

It's not true for a doctor unless you are fluent in both Spanish and Spanish-language medical terminology and can pass a professional-level test in your medical specialty, also in Spanish.

In recent years, the EC government has been recruiting doctors in Spain and among Ecuadorians who have moved outside La República.  But the next Gringo doctor I meet here will be the first.

I realize that the OP may not be a doctor, but I felt the above point was worth making given the topic of this thread.

cccmedia in Quito

My husband and I dont know Spanish. I would have every intention of learning as I would want to fit in and make friends the best I can. How have you learned Spanish? Was it incredibly difficult?

Spanish is ESSENTIAL in Ecuador. Start somewhere, if you are not here, perhaps, periaptic_soul BBC links.

Spanish is an incredibly complex and beautiful language, the grammar and conjugation is immense, but you can get by, and locals here will forgive you for using wrong tenses.

I'm learning it day by day, for example, when I first arrived and wanted to know the name of one of the guards, I learned how to say "what's your name" in spanish, the same thing with asking "where are your eggs", sugar, at a local tienda (store).

It's all about intention, if you have the will to learn Spanish it will be easier for you. This info is not necessarily for the OP who apparently did a hit and run, (1 post and gone) but for anyone else who wants to know how do you go about life in a country where English is rarely spoken.

For a teacher of English a basic tefl certificate is all that is needed, but some places you don´t even need that,as for the doctor i know 1 British guy who is a doctor for the metropolitan in Quito got the job very quick, 3 months to be precise, his spanish is not good, but what i was getting at is certain professions will get you work quick, for example a mechanic, car body repair, builder, machine operator,plumber,sparky,tiler,welder, why do i know this because i am not retired and my wifes family is Ecuadorian so i think i have learned a lot, tests for this and that, there is always a way around these things, But like what get´s mentioned 90% of expats here are retired they buy their property get their visa and life is grand,