Expat Community > Ecuador

DUNMOVN
Joined 2011
Posts: 1991

Visa regulations a minefield

12 years ago

In 3 weeks, it will be one year since I began moving to Cuenca. I had been in Ecuador on three previous occasions visiting other cities. I have been busy for several days writing about my first year in Cuenca. It is mostly about the problems in getting a visa or Cedula, which became much easier after President Correa reorganized the ministries involved in immigration. My move actually began in March in was completed in late June, involving 3 trips from Florida, 18 suitcases and two dogs. My final trip took place about one week before all hell broke loose in Ecuadorian Immigration.

Getting a visa and Cedula in Ecuador used to be a nightmare, taking up to a year or more, costing up to $4-$5 thousand dollars, mostly due to incompetent lawyers and government staff who spoke no English did not really care if they helped you or not. In late June of 2012, President Correa turned the entire process upside down, fired people and reorganized what was left. Prior to the shakeup you had to go to Quito for your Cedula. No more, all visa/Cedula functions are handled at immigration offices in Guayaquil, Cuenca and Quito. They all have bilingual staff; directions in English and they will tell you that you do not need a lawyer. If your documents are in order you should be able to get a visa and Cedula in 4-6 weeks. The minefield is in the documents. Just when you think you have it all figured out the rules change. But that is the Latin culture. Latin governments love paperwork, mostly I think to give the high school graduates they hire something to do. But then I am a devout cynic. Even some of the English directions are not so easy to understand. Here is a perfect example; the first paragraph of the visa instructions state:

“Written request signed by the applicant or legal representative as applicable, to the responsible officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to serve in the place of residence abroad or in his absence, the nearest site”. Now what in the hell does that mean? It means that you have to write a letter to immigration stating why you want a visa. The answer can be one sentence; “It is my wish to make Ecuador my home”.

I decided several weeks ago to try to make some sense of this process. I live one block from the Cuenca Immigration office, so I have easy access to any changes in laws or regulations and most of the staff know me. I have been helped by a number of others: Susan of Ocean Hideaway keeps me in the straight and narrow, Dana Cameron in Guayaquil, who has been helping people with visas for some years, Neil Radulski, the moderator of this forum, Margarete from out in the pucky weeds and a few others.

So, I have prepared what I call crib notes for those who remember their college days. I am not posting the document on this forum because the formatting of the results are not always easy to read. It’s only about 2 pages, but it provides great detail of what you must do before you come to Ecuador to live and what you must do once you are here--and you might want to print a copy. It is in PDF format. As a former publisher, I know the perfect book has never been written, so I expect and welcome any factual errors that are found. Critics on the other hand, as my father used to say are like opinions, every a**hole has one. So please no sniping from the cheap seats. If you want a copy of this document, send me a private message with your email address or write me at the address below.

Malcolm Reding
[email protected]

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Visa regulations a minefield

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