Trials and Frustrations

In Which, I become annoyed, panicked, and annoyed again

The thing no one tells you about when you talk about living abroad is visas. How they're a real PITA.

Here in Ecuador, it's very easy to stay for 3 months. After that, it gets a little tricky.

Ecuador divides their visas into resident and non-resident categories. If you're looking to retire or stay here indefinitely, a resident visa is the way to go. It takes time and a lot of patience and paperwork, but after roughly 4-6 months (depending on the type of resident visa you choose it can be longer), you'll be a permanent resident and you don't have to deal with routine visa stuff anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I've heard some chilling stories from some resident visa holders and the frustration is real on their end. But, once they've got the visa, through however much frustration it took, they're essentially done.

Non-resident visas is like living the frustration over and over again, every 6 months to 1 year, depending on how long you want to stay and how long your visa is good for.

We chose the student visa option for a few reasons, not the least being that it was more in reach than the missionary/volunteer visa or the work visa.

Our first application went off without a hitch. It was time-consuming, but relatively pain free.

This time around however, things have been a little dicey.

First off, we applied late. Technically, you're supposed to submit your application a week before your visa expires. I got the dates all turned around (they write them day/month/year and I'm used to seeing month/day/year) so we ended up submitting the application 4 days before our visa expired.

Ironically enough, this seems to be one of the least of our worries at this point.

Secondly, when we were actually submitting the paperwork, we were informed that there is a new rule (surprise!!) that required us to submit the paperwork in the zone where we live. Ambato is in Tungurahua, which is a different zone than Quito, which is in Pichincha.

There wasn't any information about this at all and no one at our school had mentioned it. We were just supposed to magically know it, apparently.

*Insert annoyance*

Thankfully, they took pity on us poor, lost gringos and let us write a letter (in REALLY bad Spanish, natch) about why we were submitting the paperwork in Quito rather than Ambato.

The following week (this past week) we got an email from the ministry saying they needed to interview us regarding our application.

Enter problem numero 3. We get to the ministry (in Quito, mind you) at the appropriate date and time and speak with a lovely gentleman (Dr. Hidalgo) who tells us that, essentially, we're missing some paperwork from the school.

The problem is, we're talking about ALL of this in Spanish, so we were a little confused with what he was trying to say. In the midst of the confusion, we told him that the classes were via Skype, not actual in-person classes taken in a classroom.

Problem numero 4 quickly raises its head. The man points us to the legislative language allowing the school to offer student visas, and it doesn't say ANYthing about classes via Skype being allowed.

*Insert panic*

Talk about a rock and a hard place.

Thankfully, the man took pity on us poor gringos (playing the dumb card can really work in your favor). Basically, the paperwork we were missing was essentially John's "graduation" papers, stating that he had completed a level of work and was moving on to the next level.

As a compromise, Dr. Hidalgo says he'll ok the visa application, but we have to get the paperwork stating John's completion of whatever level to him in 4 months. If we don't bring it in that time frame, our visas will be revoked and we'll essentially be here illegally.

We agree and he types up a very official letter, with his official seal, and we sign it.

At that point, we weren't sure what to do next, and he tells us now we have to wait for an email regarding our visa application, at which point, we have to come back to Quito AGAIN and finish out the process.

Keep in mind, it's a 2.5 hour drive and it costs us almost $50 roundtrip each time.

Sigh.

*Insert annoyance*

So that's where we're at. We'll hopefully get an email that our application was approved this coming week, we'll go to Quito AGAIN, pay for the visas and, hopefully, get them instated in our passports.

Today's lesson? When you have the chance to apply in your home city, do it.