Expat Community > Ecuador

JayRock
Joined 2009
Posts: 73

12-IX Visa

14 years ago

Just FYI that the Ecuadorian Embassy in DC processed my 12-IX (tourism) visa application in record time. I sent it priority mail with delivery confirmation (note, not express or overnight) last Monday, included a pre-paid priority mail return envelope, and I received the passport with visa today. One week! Very impressive! And I do not leave until late January, so they did not need to rush.

I was not certain if I needed to get an apostille on the state criminal check or the certificate from the doctor saying that I had no communicable diseases. I decided not to get the apostille, figuring that the documents were staying within the US. Evidently this was a good decision.

I did request two originals of both the state police report and the doctor's certificate and HIV test. And I am having those apostilled tomorrow in the state capital. I will take these with me to EC to use when I will apply to change my visa status to the 10-II (9-II) real estate residency visa.

By the way, to get an apostille, you have a document notarized, then the county clerk or similar body verifies the signature of the notary, then the Secretary of State or similar verifies the signature of the county clerk and applies a fancy stamp, etc. to the document. This must be done for many documents to be accepted outside the US.

I know that fancy stamps and such are appreciated in South American bureauocracy in general, so I decided to play it safe and get the doctor's certificate notarized and get the apostille. I'm not 100% certain it is necessary, especially since the Ecuadorian Embassy in DC already accepted the excat same documents.

Just FYI. I'll keep posting information on my immigration experience as I go along, just in case it helps anyone.

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