Ecuador for Investors – Page 75 – The Ecuador Insider

Dom’s Guide to Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

Where to stay in Bahia?

There’s not much accommodation selection in Bahia, but that may be to a lack of demand, Bahia being primarily just a weekend destination for most travelers.

I recommend for higher end budgets La Herradura Hotel, the only hotel right on the boardwalk, ocean front in Bahia. The hotel has an upscale restaurant and prices start from $20 for the single room, $40 for the double. Ask for one of the few rooms with an ocean view! Contact 05-2690446 or see laherradurahotel.com for more.

For budget travelers I recommend y personal fav, La Bahia Hotel, right in front of the Puerto Amistad Bar-Restaurant. The rooms are Spartan but clean and the price is right, $8 per person and $16 for a double.

Where to eat in Bahia?

I recommend the Puerto Amistad Bar-Restaurant with amazing views of the bay this is the foreigner hang out, but locals like it too. The wings and Quesadillas are some of the best in Ecuador and priced under $5. Seafood and typical Ecuadorian dishes are also available.

What to do in Bahia?

-Go for a morning jog on the boardwalk.

-Hike up to the Cross on the mount.

-Take a one day tour to the nearby mangroves or to an organic farm

-Hand glide near Canoa.

-Surf off Canoa.

-Dance the night away with friendly locals in Canoa.

bahia-de-caraquez-ecuador — The boardwalk in Bahia

Ecuador Residency: 8 Mistakes that’ll Cost You

I know the feeling.

That feeling you get when you look around a country and think “man, I love it here.” …

…And then for immigration reasons, or due to a lack of legal residency, you got to go.

It’s happened to me, but I hope it doesn’t happen to you.

One big plus of moving to Ecuador is the ease with which you can get legal residency. A pension of at least $800 a month or an investment of $25k or more will qualify you!

In Panama, for instance, the minimum investment to get a resident visa is several times larger.

But it’s not a “breeze” by any means, there’s a lot of mis-information out there… learn from my mistakes and follow these 8 “don’t dos”to save yourself hundreds, even thousands of dollars when applying for your Ecuador residency:

8. Don’t have others apostille your documents in your home country. Before coming to Ecuador you’ll need a few documents apostilled by your local Secretary of State. Others like your document translator will probably offer to apostille your documents, but for around 5 times what you’d pay if you just did it yourself.

7. Don’t do official translations in the US. Wait for Ecuador to translate official documents, there are translators outside the immigration offices in Quito and Guayaquil that will do the official translating for a small fraction of what you’d pay per page in the US. Just don’t give them your documents and leave, see the job through!

6. Don’t try to notarize your passport in the US. Wait for Ecuador to try to notarize copies of documents like your passport, in Ecuador it will cost $1 per notarized copy, if done in the US you’d have to mail it to DC (because local notaries can’t notarize a national document) and pay $50 or more. Talk about a pain in the a$$.

5. Upon arrival don’t wait to submit your residency application. You must submit your resident visa application at least 30 days before your actual visa expires or you will have to leave country and come back before applying.

4. Don’t apply for an investor’s visa if a pensioner’s visa is an option for you, because with an investor’s visa you are tied to that property, if you sell your investment you will lose your residency visa and have to apply for a new one.

3. Don’t apply from outside of Ecuador. Just don’t. Trying to get people in Ecuador to move if you aren’t breathing down their neck is like trying to train a cat, it just ain’t gonna happen! Get the few docs you need from your home country, then come here and finish the process and you can get it done in a month.

2. Don’t apply for Pensioner visas in Cuenca just yet, because the immigration office in Cuenca is so new it’s not correctly attached to the nationwide records system so come time to get your “cedula”(your Ecuadorian ID card) you may have trouble in Guayaquil or Quito (as of now, July 2012, you can’t get cedulas in Cuenca).

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Montanita Ecuador Real Estate For Sale

MONTANITA HOUSE FOR RENT

One price for WHOLE HOUSE, more private than a hotel and fit as many people as you wish!…

3 bedroom with one queen bed each, 2 full bathrooms, fully furnished kitchen with dining table and mini-refrigerator, patio with hammocks overlooking the ocean, dining area…

House has internet and WIFI.

This quiant house has a 180 degree ocean view and has a great location in a quiet area just outside of the hustle of nearby Montanita. It is 25 minutes by walking along the beach to Montanita (shares same beach), or 2 minutes by car (or a $1.50 taxi ride). See map below.

Furnished kitchen with plates, fridge, refrigerator and gas stove.

Pets OK, garden, yard, parking area.

$30 per day, $180 per week, $380 per month (including internet).

$100 security deposit, can rent for days, weeks or months.

After reservation you will be emailed the key pick up instructions and our caretaker will let you in the house the day of your arrival and help you get acquainted.

Click here to check availability and reserve now!

Or call Dom at 0969251257 or write us below:

[contact-form 16 “montanitaVacRen”]

manglaralto beach — The nearby beach, just south of Montanita.

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They came, they left, an expat family story in Ecuador

Biking Cotopaxi, Ecuador in Family

I see it all the time working in a hotel in Guayaquil.

They arrived, a young expat family with two parents in their 30’s and 2 little kids.

They had never been to Ecuador.

But they were planning on making a life here.

They had read all the fluffy speak of Ecuador online. Visited the blogs.

But when they got here it was a different story, almost right from the start.

The landlord they were going to rent from over the net kind of stiffed them, then someone else overcharged them.

Then the mother, up-tight already, got uneasy seeing all the nudy magazines in the streets and the people kissing in public (common in many countries in the world, not just in Ecuador).

Then the father, who didn’t quite grasp yet that pedestrians DON’T have the right of way in Ecuador, got hit by a car… luckily it wasn’t serious and he was OK.

All the while feeling a bit isolated by the language barrier, and disappointed that prices weren’t as low as they were led to believe online before arriving.

They came.

They left.

They made it less than a month.

My advice so this doesn’t happen to you?

Commit to 6 months here no matter what!

In that time you should get over the learning curve, learn how to spend less to live here and make some local friends and learn at least a bit of the language.

If you do that, you’ll find Ecuador an amazing place to live, and I bet, no matter where else in the world you go, you’ll keep coming back. (Like me!)

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Ecuador Warns Business Owners to Affiliate Employees to BIESS

With a few new amendments of legislation the Ecuadorian government has further clamped down on businesses who don’t affiliate their employees to the BIESS, or the local Social Security system.

All full time employees need to be affiliated, and the employee needs to pay 9.35% of their salary to the program, which provides them access to free state-funded health care and a pension system, while the business owners need to pay 11.15%.

Businesses have one month to affiliate their employees or risk being fined in upwards of $14k for the infraction. In some cases, jail time is even possible. A probation violation can result in heavy fines, jail time and extended probation. If you violated your probation, it would be in your best interests to discuss your matter with an attorney as soon as possible. An experienced lawyer will know how to present your case in front of the prosecutor and the judge in a light that is more favorable to you. When your future is on the line, you need to do what you can to keep yourself out of jail and in the community where you belong. The Law Offices of Aaron T. Hicks is a criminal defense firm located in San Diego, California. Their firm has effectively helped clients with all types of criminal charges in the San Diego area including: DUI, drug crimes, internet crimes, theft crimes, three strikes cases, weapons offenses, white collar crimes as well as violent crimes and appeals. Should you go with their firm, they will search for any mitigating circumstances that may get your charges reduced or dropped. What’s more, they will question every aspect of your case, including law enforcement’s procedure, collection of evidence and witness testimony. They care about the outcome of your case and they will fight tooth and nail on your behalf. You can go official site for more detail about probation violation attorney.

A capable criminal defense attorney will employ many strategies in order to give you a strong chance at beating these charges. They can argue the merits of the violation itself in an attempt to get the violation dismissed, or help you get your probation reinstated by the court in lieu of more severe sanctions. They will also develop a plan of action that argues why you should not remain in custody, along with what can be accomplished if you are given the opportunity to continue with your probation conditions. When it comes down to it, a probation violation is not something to be taken lightly and you need to retain an experienced and knowledgeable defense attorney who understands probation laws well enough to develop a strong case in your defense. At this point, the judge will be looking to punish you for violating the trust they have given you, so having the right lawyer at your side is paramount in keeping you out of jail. There are many forms of legal penalizations that serve to enforce and prevent the continuation of illegal activities and crimes. One of the most common of these is probation. Probation is the court mandated restrictions of an individual’s freedoms following a criminal conviction. Because these terms can often be very limiting and strict it is common for probation to be violated. When this occurs it is likely the offender will face more serious criminal penalizations, such as jail time.

Even domestic maids and chofers are required to be affiliated.

For me, paying an employee in Ecuador the minimum wage, the BIESS payment comes to about $60 a month.

In order to affiliate employees to the BIESS first you need a RUC, or an Ecuadorian Tax ID number, after that visit your local BIESS office for further details.

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