Many tales could be told since I’ve last written, but one of the most exciting - and anxiety-producing - is that we’ve finally been granted our Ecuadorian Residency. This means we can now come and go legally. Yahoo! The timing couldn’t be better, seeing as how our visas are about to run out.
But alas, it seems that everyone who’s been through this process has a gory story to tell, and we’re no exception. Our only advantage is that we’d been through it before in Costa Rica, and at least had some idea as to what to expect. Tons of homework was done online to make sure we knew all the Ecuadorean requirements before coming down. Naturally, we were convinced we had all the necessary documents in hand.
Ah, but this is still Latin America. Requirements in these parts seems to come and go on an ever-changing basis. It’s probably the same way for immigrants to the United States, but all I know is that anyone who’s brave enough to tread these waters has to keep a positive, patient perspective.
Our journey has taken us seven months, with several nail-biting changes in between. It began with being hooked up with a very well-known lawyer in Quito whose specialty is immigration. We spoke to her by phone, and were given a list of all documents to be sent to her. Just here two weeks, we were thrilled to be on our way. At that time the expectation was a 3 to 6 month wait, and for us that was nothing compared to the three full years it took in Costa Rica.
But of course, nothing is as smooth as you'd think. We’ve definitely learned throughout this process to be our own advocates. Leave nothing to chance, and don’t expect the lawyer or representative you’ve hired to be proactive in communicating with you along the way. We contacted ours many times throughout, and thankfully we did, because each time we were "Oh! by the way", told of yet some other document needing to be submitted, or a new reason for a delay.
Another glitch was that a new Director of Immigration came onto the scene, which seemed to put everything at a standstill until he settled in. Rumors wafted about regarding new procedures and expectations, some of which couldn't be fulfilled so easily. And here we were, about to leave the country. Our 6-month visa was almost up, and if this took much longer, we’d need to get it renewed to give us another three months to assure us legal status upon return. That was finally confirmed that with our lawyer, the one who not once reached out to advise us, despite many emails and phone calls. We scrambled, but got it done.
We pushed her a little more to get our residency approved before we went away. This is because you have only one month to respond once it’s been granted, and can lose it if you don’t get your new visa stamped into your passport at the Foreign Ministry within that time. Of course, ours was in fact granted just before we left. Not that our lawyer informed us of this. Oh no. We found out through a banker who knows her personally and called on our behalf.
So now what do we do? we thought. What if we lose it? We were going to Connecticut, and asked our lawyer to arrange for it to be done at the Ecuadorian Consulate there. The letter she wrote was somehow never sent there, and even if it had, they apparently didn't have the authority to do so. Yikes! We then went back and forth on the phone with her secretaries and tried to get it to Boston. That wasn’t to be, either. Finally, we were told we could get it done as soon as we got back. So now our passports are in Quito, and should be stamped with our visas this week.
That means it's time to celebrate, right? Wrong. Turns out that a new law just came into effect regarding the final step of being legal - getting our “cedulas”. These are numbered I.D. cards akin to all-important Social Security numbers in America. In order to pick them up, we’ll now need to produce marriage and birth certificates apostilled (authenticated) by our Secretary of State offices. That wouldn’t have been a problem if we’d known while we were back there. But no, that was never mentioned throughout all our messages back and forth to the lawyer. So now we have to figure out a way to get those taken care of. In the meantime, we just have to wait to get our officially stamped passports back in hand. We’re shaking in our boots until that happens!
Do you have a residency story? I’ve heard of a few breezy success stories, but many more with pitfalls and challenges. There seem to be a few well-known advocates and lawyers specializing in immigration, some of whom are highly recommended and others who are not. It makes me wonder if an updated list should be compiled. I know that ours came with 5-stars, and yet it seems she now has so many clients she can’t possibly do her job as expected. Add that to the constant wave of crazy changes in requirements, and it’s bound to be an uphill battle. But we’re almost there. And for that I’m incredibly grateful.
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