On The Road for Residency...

On the Road for Residency...

     As with most things worth having in life, registering for residency was not an easy task. We made sure that we had all of our 'i''s dotted and our 't''s crossed. We had extra apostilled copies of every document that the lawyers had told us to acquire. We had our cash ready to pay for the process. With all of this, we were off to Cuenca to register...

     We arrived bright and early as instructed, documents, passports and cash all on hand. Our lawyers even had their assistant accompany us, just in case. We took our number and all sat down and waited to be called. The assistant even grabbed a number a few higher than ours, just in case we had an issue and had to get back in line.

     After a three hour wait, our number is finally called! We eagerly rush up to counter, ready for anything. The clerk behind the counter is very friendly and speaks good English, which helps us to feel at ease. She begins a very thorough and detailed look at each of our documents. She pauses on our son Anthony's passport and sets it to the side. She looks up and compliments us on doing a very good job on our documents, BUT it seems that when we entered the country, the officer accidentally put an extra digit in Anthony's passport number when he stamped it (a common occurrence we were told). So, we would have to go to Quito or Guayaquil to have this straightened out. She told us that then, we could return and register for residency.

      To make a long story short, we took care of Anthony's passport issue. It took about seven days to get him registered properly as a tourist in Ecuador. With this taken care of, we were off to Cuenca for our second attempt to register for residency...

   

Second verse, same as the first! We arrive bright and early with our documents, passports and cash. Our lawyers themselves, actually have joined us this time! Both are blending in and feel confident that everything will go smoothly this time. Our number is called and off to the counter we go. With smiles on our faces we hand over our documents and ask to apply for residency.

     We have a different clerk this time, but she is just as friendly and also speaks very good English. Our confidence level rises. She begins the very intense detailed research into our documents as the previous lady had done. We smile and wait patiently. Some time goes by, as she goes back and fourth over our documents. Finally, she sets both Shar and my police background checks to the side (both were clean) and both of our passports. She says that she cannot approve our application.

     Our lawyer jumps into action! He insist on knowing why our documents are no good "now" when two weeks ago they were perfect, except for our sons passport issue, which we have now straightened out! The clerk stands her ground and says that her supervisor will not let this pass. Our lawyer demands to see the supervisor. The man approaches and the two of them begin a very lengthy conversation. After a few moments, our lawyer tells the man to explain to us, in English, why we are being refused.

     The man explains to us, in English, that there is a small lapse in between our "five year" criminal background check, which both were clean, and the time that we re-entered Ecuador. He said, of course, it would be illogical to think that we would have committed any crimes during such a short span of time, but he still would not approve our application. Our lawyer insist that he put this in writing, but the man refuses. 

     Our lawyer informs us that the man's refusal to put it in writing, shows that he knows he is in the wrong. He wants to fight it with an appeal to prevent it from happening to anyone else, but our documents were too close to expiring at this point. Our lawyer informed us, that in Quito, this would not be an issue and we are advised to travel to Quito to apply and soon, as time was running out on our apostilled documents and our tourist stamps.

     So, another trip is planned, this time to the capital city of Quito. We arrive safely and without incident and get a good nights rest before heading downtown to meet with our lawyers assistant. We meet on the corner of 6 de diciember and la ninã and off to the Office of Foreign Affairs we go!

     As soon as we walked into the place, we felt good! The assistant had half of the staff greet her as if she were an old friend. She had us sit down as she went to work. This woman was amazing! She was handling three cases at once and kicking ass at it! About thirty minutes go by, when she comes up to us and tells us to goto window number four for identification. We do as we are told and return to our seats. A few minutes go by and she comes and asks for the $150 ($30 x 5) application fee. We hand it over. She runs and pays the clerk and we are called up to take our photographs for our Cedulas!

     The assistant comes over and tells us, "that's it"! We can go enjoy the city and Nelson and Grace would be in touch with us when our Cedulas were ready to be picked up.

     Wow! The exact same documents, shot down twice at the Cuenca office after two trips and hours of waiting were just accepted in Quito in less than an hour. Third time really is the Charm it would appear, at least, as far as immigration is concerned.

    Until next time, when we hope to start blogging about everyday life here in the valley, peace, love and happiness to you and yours from the Jones Family!