Visas in Ecuador

That's odd. I just renewed my CD for my 9-II visa in October, which required 3 trips to Azogues (the minimum number of trips that it can be done in). All three times over the course of a week, I would leave Cuenca on the bus around 9:00 AM, be at the office by 10:00 AM. There were never more than 6 or 7 people waiting, and I was in and out in under 20 minutes each time. The office in Azogues was much faster than the three years (original visa in 2013 and CD renewal in 2014, 2015) done at the Cuenca office. 3:00 AM? Wow, sorry to hear about your negative experience with the new office.

rsymington wrote:

That's odd. I just renewed my CD for my 9-II visa in October, which required 3 trips to Azogues (the minimum number of trips that it can be done in). All three times over the course of a week, I would leave Cuenca on the bus around 9:00 AM, be at the office by 10:00 AM. There were never more than 6 or 7 people waiting, and I was in and out in under 20 minutes each time. The office in Azogues was much faster than the three years (original visa in 2013 and CD renewal in 2014, 2015) done at the Cuenca office. 3:00 AM? Wow, sorry to hear about your negative experience with the new office.

I suspect the difficulties only started in November when some more functions were transfered to the Azogues office from Cuenca and new procedures for attending to the public were implemented.

Here is a someone commenting on Gringo Postrecently

Changes in the Azogues immigration office procedures
Just an FYI: it is no longer possible to walk in and get appointments in the Azogues office. I have been there twice this week and there are many changes. Appointments are limited to 25 per day, split between three employees. That number includes all work with immigrants and EC citizens, so the office is very busy. Fridays are reserved for registrations only (I'm not sure what that means except that they don't take visa processing appointments on Fridays).

Plan to arrive there before 8 AM to wait in line and get one of the few daily appointments for visa processing.

Ah yes, Nards, there is that. Also after I posted, I then thought about the fact I was simply renewing my CD for Banco Central, and not applying for my initial visa. That may also make a difference.

I am sorry to hear that the process is going backwards, from what I Know, Guayaquil and Quito are very burocratic too.

I have been told that it is worth it to go to Guayaquil, in and our nice and easy. I have done the get up at 3 thing several times last week. It is no fun.

When do you guys think the Ministry working will be back to normal ? My case is already been with the Cuenca Ministry and its also being delayed

Nobody explains nothing!!! I cannot understand why they are not working also in Cuenca. I visited the Ministry offices in Cuenca yesterday, it was almost empty. All processes were moved to Azogues.
Residency Visas
Temporal Visas
Empadronamientos
All kind of processes are taking longer than before!!!

I got my 9-I visa in 2009 although spending most of my time in Ecuador I've been coming and going with no thought about how long and where. A couple of months ago on leaving UIO immigration delayed me for some time, seemingly, but not clearly, because I had not stayed in Ecuador long enough that time (I have ongoing medical matters needing attention from my US Kaiser health care insurance).

Anyone know anything about this kind of thing?

There appears to be on average a wait of 4 months after filing at 4offices:Quito, Guayaquil, Manta and Azogues.

This may be due to a turnover in staff but from what I have heard through my contacts it is directly due to enquiries which arose following the investigation through Cuenca, of irregularitirs and illegally notarized documents which had been for a number of years filed by a  well known (and expensive) facilitator.

Because of those findings a closer look is being applied to documents filed for N. Americans. Especially notary stamps.

Susan_in_Ecuador wrote:

This may be due to a turnover in staff but from what I have heard through my contacts it is directly due to enquiries which arose following the investigation through Cuenca, of irregularitirs and illegally notarized documents which had been for a number of years filed by a  well known (and expensive) facilitator.

This is not good news.

As it happens we are going to be in Cuenca in a couple of weeks and I was going to make an appointment with one well known expat lawyer/facilitator. So I'm interested in not hiring this representative of whom you speak.

Even though expensive, I was going to go with Sara Chaca as she seems to enjoy a high rate of success. Which I hope is achieved by completely observing the letter of Ecuadoran law?

I would much like to avoid giving our hard earned money the person you mention, but to do that I would need to have a better idea who this person is.

If you could PM with better detail about this suspect facilitator I would be deeply grateful. I would even bring you cheese. 

4 months instead of 5 or 6 weeks? IT'S CRAZY!!!
I also heard terrible things about her company. I know a guy who is still in the process to get his pension visa due she lost his paperwork.

I hope all these situations can be solved soon!

The individual in question has been known for providing "expedited" services, including but not limited to... having documents notarized in the USA illegally.

A notary public must abide by certain rules and the principle rule is that the person must appear before them.  In these situations, this was not the case.

In addition, a notary stamp is only legal in the State in which it was given.  Using it outside that state (and this would obviously include outside the USA) is improper and voids the stamp.

Also,  one must personally appear before the notary and have their proof of ID documents verified prior to acknowledgment by the notary public.

In other words, you cannot have, for example, a Notary from Deleware living in Cuenca, notarize your documents.  Nor can you have a notary in  Conn. acknowledge your document if you are not directly before him or her but instead have your documents sent without your presence

In Ecuador, the ONLY legal notaries public are at the US Consulate and US Embassy. The charge is $50 per notarization and the individual(s) must appear in person with their US passport.

Certainly not the news I wanted to hear a month before I begin my visa application. While I've read the same thing, that many of the visas in question were processed through Cuenca, I would agree with Susan that future applications for "gringos" will probably receive a little more scrutiny (hence delays) regardless of which office you apply to.....which in my case will be Quito.

My concern is they will make the visa process more difficult for the rest of us. Hopefully not, but I suppose I will find out soon.

Actually a number of those visas were processed in Quito as well.

Keep in mind that while your application is filed and pending you are able to remain in Ecuador.

Leaving and returning you should have your Ticket which is stamped as PAID to the National Bank as proof of your application.  This is also why it is very important that your facilitator not hold either your passport of your Ticket. Not too many years ago we had a facilitator who would literally hold people´s passports and not return them. This person is no longer in our midst.

There is a point after you have been awarded your visa that you will hand it over so the visa may be stamped in.  Any previous visa still in effect also needs to be voided as you cannot be carrying two visas at one time.

Reading the newer posts make me extremely worried

Susan_in_Ecuador wrote:

There appears to be on average a wait of 4 months after filing at 4offices:Quito, Guayaquil, Manta and Azogues.

This may be due to a turnover in staff but from what I have heard through my contacts it is directly due to enquiries which arose following the investigation through Cuenca, of irregularitirs and illegally notarized documents which had been for a number of years filed by a  well known (and expensive) facilitator.

Because of those findings a closer look is being applied to documents filed for N. Americans. Especially notary stamps.

Susan , can you please PM me the name of the Facilitator . Please

If your application has been completed with legal and correct information then it is simply a matter of waiting for the review to complete. There is a slow down, that's the only effect this will have for most people. As we say here, tranquilo. Patience.

We ultimately decided to go the visa cable route and do it ourselves. Its really not all that difficult to do it although it is easier in person. In our case It's not a bad option since she lives in Quito and the Ecuadorian consulate is a short drive from where I live in the states. Hopefully all will go well, I suppose I'll know in the next few months.

Any recent update?

This is either mistaken or misleading. I, as a California attorney could notarize your signature if we are both in Berkeley or in Quito, but what is noteworthy is that in the US all I am doing is certifying that you are the person who signed. It has nothing to do with the content or validity of the documents themselves, unlike in much of Latin America where the notaries often serve functions like country clerks, or other officials, in the US . To be useful in Ecuador most (all?) signatures have to be apostilled as well, which has to be done by the appropriate official in the state where that US notary is registered.

DXBDINO28 wrote:

Any recent update?

Not yet, my packet is still in transit to Ecuador. It should be arriving within the next few days although it will be a few weeks before I can begin the application for the 9V professional visa since you have to register the degree with SENESCYT first.

smitty88 wrote:

This is either mistaken or misleading. I, as a California attorney could notarize your signature if we are both in Berkeley or in Quito, but what is noteworthy is that in the US all I am doing is certifying that you are the person who signed. It has nothing to do with the content or validity of the documents themselves, unlike in much of Latin America where the notaries often serve functions like country clerks, or other officials, in the US . To be useful in Ecuador most (all?) signatures have to be apostilled as well, which has to be done by the appropriate official in the state where that US notary is registered.

Usually, the documents have to be validated/certified/authenticated first in order to get an apostille, For example, for my diploma, the university registrar attached a notarized letter of authentication stating that I had obtained this degree on this date.

The same with my state police background, it came with a notarized certificate stating it was an authentic copy.

Is the Cuenca and Azoguez Ministry working back to normal yet ? Did anyone recently visited ?

Everything will be fine

Has anyone Read about the recent Law ?

http://www.gringopost.com/2017/01/new-i … -info.html

What does it mean ? Will this Law impact the Residency Visa applications that were already filed ?

https://www.cuencahighlife.com/new-immi … -180-days/

DXBDINO28 wrote:

Has anyone Read about the recent Law ?

http://www.gringopost.com/2017/01/new-i … -info.html

What does it mean ? Will this Law impact the Residency Visa applications that were already filed ?

I don't think there is a clear answer as of yet, but I would not be surprised if they apply it retroactively to visas that were already approved within the last year.

However, it is definitely going to affect my plans. I was going to apply for the 9V via cable visa and have decided to scrap that idea. We will most likely choose the route of getting married in Ecuador and then applying for the 9VI Amparo (if it still exists next month) or apply directly for permanent resident status. Under the proposed changes, you can obtain permanent residency via marriage to an Ecuadorian. However, until the law is enacted it is anybody's guess as to what the final version will say.