Visa Details

Oh, the hoops and the stress of relocation and I haven't even left yet!!

If you were planning a vacation to Ecuador you probably wouldn't have to do that much: Just decide on what you are taking with you.

In my case, it involves a lot more.

In order to stay in Ecuador, indefinitely, one requires a permanent Visa. There are several different types of Visa's available (which if you are interested are detailed on many other websites). The Visa I will be acquiring is an Investment Visa (or a 9-II Visa).

This requires you to open a bank account in Ecuador, transfer $25,000 US to that account, and invest the money in what is called a "Cash Deposit" (a CD).

Once that is in place, I have to register the CD with the central bank in Ecuador and then I can use the paperwork generated from that to acquire the Investment Visa.

Now, this is a bit of a gamble I suppose as you can never tell what might occur with the economy. But, if I don't acquire this type of Visa, I would have to wait until I am 65 (4 more years) before moving to Ecuador (65 is when I have chosen to collect my Canada Pension so that it is maxed out). A lot can happen in 4 years.

I can take out the CD on an annual basis so if I decide that Ecuador is not for me, I will only have to wait a maximum of one year before I can take my money out of Ecuador. That is not too bad. The only downside is that it costs you 5% to take your money out of the country.

However, if all works according to my plan, I will collect roughly 6% interest per annum on the Investment CD (an extra $125 per month). 6% is the lowest interest rate you would get on a one year term. In some institutions you can get upwards of 11%, but I don't think I am interested in gambling that much.

Also, you have to be careful with regard to the financial institution you choose to invest with. Some are kind of shady and not regulated by the government.

In October of 2018, I will be 65 and will start to collect my Canada Pension. At that time I can apply for a Pensioner's Visa (and disband the Investment CD). However, I will likely choose to apply for citizenship (which I can do after being in the country for 3 years) in which case I won't need the Pensioner Visa.

You can hold duel citizenship so you don't have to give up your Canadian citizenship.

It is much easier if you apply for a Pensioner's Visa right from the start, but unfortunately, that won't work in my case.

If you are collecting a pension you can apply for a Visa while still in Canada which makes it much easier (i.e., you don't have to worry about knowing Spanish). Although, I have been told that some of the people that work at Immigration's (in Cuenca & Quito) speak English.

Oh, incidentally, you can acquire an Investment CD over different terms (e.g., 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc.). Since I am taking it out for 1 year at a time that means that I have to renew my Visa every year. I have been informed that this is not too difficult, but nonetheless, involves a trip to the Central Bank Registration office and then to the Immigration's office where they take a copy of the updated investment. Your Visa is only good as long as the Investment is in place.

Paperwork required to secure a Visa

And any documents that are coming from Canada, must be authenticated and OK'ed by the local Consulate of Ecuador. As well, all documents must be translated into Spanish. That means you have to have both the English version and the Spanish version and all must be notarized. The translations should be done in Ecuador, not in Canada.

Needless to say, it is far easier to to acquire a Pensioner's Visa than an Investment Visa as it can all be done in Canada (without translations) and also this makes it so that if, for some reason, your documents are not in order, you are still in Canada to take care of correcting that issue.

There are many more details to this issue. So, if you are interested you can contact me and I will give the full rundown.

So, all of that and I haven't even got to what's involved in relocating Tiger (my cat). And then there is trying to guesstimate what I will need to take with me for the short-term.

More later.