“I started to use a lawyer in Quito, but I decided to, instead, use a full-service relocation service, Relocation Services of Ecuador ( www.RelocationServicesOfEcuador.net ), in Cuenca Ecuador.
Relocation Services of Ecuador not only helped me with all of the morass of requirements of moving; they helped me get a cell phone and a bank account, within the first week; and they also provided me with a local Cuenca lawyer, where everyone in the office speaks perfect English.
I used Relocation Services of Ecuador just the other day, when I was at the ETAPA telephone office and couldn’t stretch my feeble Spanish far enough to communicate. I made a quick cell-phone call to their wonderful bi-lingual «Girl Friday;» handed the phone to the ETAPA clerk, and everything was instantly fixed.
Almost everything has gone without a hitch. The only exception has been getting a statement of retirement income Apostilled, which required the document be sent to the US Department of State (State Department). That took some time, but it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Relocation Services of Ecuador provided me with a legal contact in Texas, who handled the State Department requirements, and forwarded the Apostilled document to me in Cuenca.
Lesson learned: If you are coming to Ecuador for a retirement residency Visa, and you are retired military or other federal retirement, be sure to get your statement of income and get it apostilled at the US State Department, before you get on the airplane.
