Getting an Ecuador Visa

Although, in the last couple of years, improvements have been set to speed things up in certain immigration formalities, it's still a good idea to plan ahead! It's not a good idea to be in front of an agent from the Ecuadorian Immigration Services without having a fair knowledge of the type of Visa or Residency status you want to obtain. 

The problem is not so much about rules and regulations. It has to do with the people working for this government entity and their lack of knowledge ultimately leading to your frustration. You'll probably won't get a straight answer to your questions or you might get a different answer from one agent to another.

 Most retirees or expats obtain an investment or  a retirement visa. There are some restrictions with these type of visas, and one of them is that you can't be out of the country for more than 90 days with in a 24 month period, and this happened to the wife of one of my friends!a few months back! She can't return for a certain period of time... 

When you apply for a retirement visa, be prepared to provide lots of paperwork, originals and certified copies (in some cases notarized and apostilled), and translated to Spanish. The documents include but are not limited to, Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses, Certified Bank Letters that guarantee your retirement income and expect to pay anywhere in an average of $2000 in attorney fees.

Expect some issues when obtaining an Investment Visa, specially if you are planning to buy Real Estate.  To qualify for this visa, you need to invest and maintain a minimum of $25,000 in a bank if single, and $1000 per each dependent, so, if you have a family of three, then you need $27,000. Just like a retirement type visa, you need to provide with all the necessary paperwork. You can also qualifying for an Investor's visa buying  real estate. But the problem you may run into is that in order to qualify for an Investor's visa you need to provide the immigration services with the deed to the property you are acquiring, and, there have been numerous incidents were it turns into a nightmare to obtain the Deed Certificates eating up the time that you have been allowed to stay in the country legally. 

I sell real estate for a living, and I want you to hire me to be your agent but this is one of these circumstances where if you decide to get an investors or retirement visa, I will have to recommend you to rent first, and, I can help you with that as well. 

Ecuador is a beautiful country, and renting will give you the opportunity to find out if Ecuador is right for you. 

Meanwhile, we can go and look at some potential properties while you decide... 

But, if you are ready and decided about buying a piece of real estate.... You might want to consider a Corporation Visa or a Work Visa The corporation visa takes about 2 months to obtain. 

As a business entity, a corporation  does not need a visa, the visa is for the person who's behind the corporation. 

The requirement is that 1% of the shares of a corporation must be owned by an Ecuadorian citizen. The corporation must have a Manager to whom you'll pay the minimum wage, currently around $340 a month plus all the benefits required by law . You file 0 on your tax forms without penalty as long as you file on time, or you can hire the services of an accountant to file for you for less than $50 a month. You will need to assign a single transaction power of attorney(meaning that the power of attorney is only for the purpose of entitling one person to act in your behalf to form a corporation and no more)  whom you are going to send the necessary documentation to start a corporation in Ecuador.

 Later on, you can apply for an Investors or Retirement Visa.  

The advantages of the Corporation visa:

• It costs about $1,500 to $2,000 for attorney fees  
• You don't have traveling restrictions as for the Investors or Retirement Visas
• You can purchase real estate, and as soon as you get your deed you can apply for an Investor's visa
• It is not a resident visa, meaning that if you decide not to stay, you can sell/transfer your Corporation to someone else and Chao!

Oh! by the way, if you need an Ecuadorian Immigration Lawyer or documents translated from any language to other language in more than 40 languages, notarized and certified,  shoot me an email at ivangolfer78@gmail.com with a PDF file of the documents to by translated and I will send you a quote within 48 hours. You can find additional contact information even a a local US number where you can call me by clicking HERE

I'll see you when you get here!
Ivan Moncayo
   

Gringos Pay More? Why?

It works in my advantage to be part of two cultures. I was born in Ecuador but I´ve lived more than half of my adult life in the US. And not to brag or anything, but.... I think I am qualified to talk about this issue.

One of the things that doesn't make me too proud of being "half"  Ecuadorian is that I see how certain Ecuadorian citizens take advantage of the newly arrived visitor.

So, I decided to do a little research about this "dishonest issue" and I found out that most people see foreign visitors like they have a big dollar sign imprinted on their foreheads! It's true that $1 dollar goes a long way in Ecuador and when we just arrive, everything seems so cheap when  we are really paying 3 times the cost of taxi raid if we are not careful!

Same thing happens when we are looking at properties to buy! And that is why future buyers like to work with an "Agent" whom they have already developed a level of trust knowing that they will keep a high level of discretion when they are prospecting properties for foreign buyers. In other words, keeping their mouths shot without disclosing that their prospective buyers come from other country so they pay a fair price for a piece of Real Estate.

The majority of my clientele are US Citizens, and most of them have worked with a Realtor. It's an advantage for them to work with me because I apply the same level of service as if I was practicing Real Estate in the US.

There's no Agency Law intended to protect the buyer in this country, meaning that an Agent and a "Corredor Inmobiliario" are two different levels of service. The latter works on his own benefit while an Agent (which aren't easy to find) work on his or her client's interests.

Here is the link to one of my listings where you can find my contact information and even a picture! By the way, if you are a Real Estate Professional, there's a generous amount of $$$ for the agent who refers me a ready and able buyer.

Enjoy the show! http://QuintaEsencial.com

QuintaEsencial Vilcabamba-Ecuador

Moving to Ecuador?

Ecuador is once again the #1 place to live according to International Living Magazine. This is a great opportunity for local home builders and home owners to market their properties to International Buyers. The best way to advertise properties to international buyers is through the powerful combination of images and the internet! The reason is simple: It is NOT practical for a potential international to just come and visit a couple of properties, like he was just looking at properties in his own town and country! It's quite a long commute! Unless of course, they are coming to your hometown for vacation. The best way to sell properties to international buyers is to cater properties to them. One effective way of doing these is through the use of Virtual Tours. VirtuoMedia360 Interactive, is a Virtual Tour Company that focuses on Real Estate Marketing.

One of Ecuador's favorite spots for Retirees is Vilcabamba, AKA "The Valley of Longevity. Located in Southern Ecuador, this small town is home for the most diverse international community in the country. Here is the link for a Property marketed by VirtuoMedia360TM : http://QuintaEsencial.com where a web site and a Virtual Tour were combined to cater the best of this beautiful property.

Virtual Tour Powered by: VirtuoMedia360 Interactive

Enjoy the show! And if you are interested in advertising your properties overseas click HERE!