I can’t think of how else to put this.
But sometimes I really think Ecuador is kind of like your friends slutty sister.
She may look good from a distance, but the more you get to know her, the less you trust her and although you may have a casual fling with her, chances of a serious comitment are slim.
It may be funny to hear this from a so-called ‘Ecuador expert’, but the truth is Ecuador is a great place for that exciting high risk-high reward 10% part of your portfolio but its certainly not smart to sell everything and invest it all in Ecuador.
Don’t do that! Seriously.
I’m sorry but while (currently) Ecuador is a great place to casually live, and a great place to generate wealth, its not a good place to store wealth and in fact, like many countries in the world, I’m afraid Ecuadors heading in the wrong direction. A lot of factors there. Just my opinion.
Opps, maybe I spilled the beans on that one.
Ecuador, really not much different from any ‘third-world’ country, is certainly not a smart place to park $25k in a CD for a right to a residency visa. This past year alone one ‘real’ bank failed (Banco Territorial), and one ‘coopera’ or credit union-type-thing failed too.
People lost money. Not everyone got paid back.
And contrary to popular opinion, its also not smart to base your visa off a real estate investment valued over $25k, cause if you sell the investment, you lose your visa, and boy would it stink to get stuck in a bad investment and miss an opportunity just cause your money was tied up for your visa. And even if you plan on staying, in say, Nevada, getting a home warranty in Nevada can be quite challenging, considering a vacillating, perplexed mind.
While many of us, either too young or for whatever reason, don’t count on a steady pension in order to apply for the pensioners visa.
Well, fear not, there’s another little-known option many of us qualify for.
And you don’t have to invest a cent. Nor do you need a pension.
Besides, the only investments you should make are good ones, not ones based on getting a residency visa.
This type of visa is the one I got.
I got it, all by myself, with no help from a lawyer (it wasn’t necessary).
Recently too, I got approved last month.
Introducing the 9-V Professionals permanent resident visa.
If you were to read more, you’d know that all you need to qualify is a degree from an accredited university and to have the degree validated by the Ecuadorian institute of higher education (SENESCYT).
Its actually even easier than it sounds.
You see, Ecuador immigration law is actually quite dated. Written several years ago before there was a sizable demand of incoming migrants. And understandly, countries without much incoming demand have more open doors, cause it doesn’t matter, on the flip side, a country like the US has the doors so closed to immigrants they often have to do illegal stuff just to get in and stay in.
Some countries offer a Professional type visa for college grads, like Australia, but only for certain majors, the specialists they need. Which makes more sense than the current Ecuadorian system if you think about it.
You see, if they’ll approve someone from my major, they’ll take, well, anyone.
Why?
Well, my major was .. duh duh …duh duh… Spanish.
Yea. Damn. Think they got enough Spanish speakers in Ecuador?
If anyone were screwed it’d be me right?
Well, I guess not, I guess they needed one more spanish speaker in Ecuador, and one that speaks with a gringo accent.
Cause I got approved.
But anyway, now you see, any major will do as per the current Ecuadorian law.
So why don’t more people go for this permanent resident visa type?
They just don’t know.
But what if you don’t have a university degree from an Ecuadorian recognized institution, nor a pension, nor the money or desire to invest thousands in Ecuador?
You’ve got another option or two we’ll be covering in the next week. So stay tuned.
Now of course, I did run into a few irritating challenges during the visa application process, mainly due to lack of experience, and they almost costed me the visa!
For instance, before you even think about applying for the professional visa subscribe to my weekly Ecuador Insiders Newsletter below, you can unsubscribe at any time: