Wow! Winning the permanent visa that was denied in Azogues

On September 29, 2021 we applied for a permanent residence visa for an US citizen in the Azogues Zonal Coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We knew that it was going to be denied because, according to the Ministry’s lawyers, they had to apply the reform to the Human Mobility Law that it was given on February 5, 2021. This reform establishes the conditions for obtaining a permanent visa.

Article 63 in numeral 1 of the amended law, says that people who hold the migratory category of Residence for 21 continuous months in Ecuador may obtain a permanent residence visa. Unfortunately, the Ministry applied the reform to the law and the Constitution of Ecuador was violated, since the law cannot be applied retroactively.

Foreigners, who turned 21 months from February 5th, could obtain a permanent residence visa, because they obtained their visa with the previous law.

Many times we have tried to make the officials of the visa department and even the Coordinator understand, but the answer was always that they had provisions from Quito! Since the first refusal to approve the permanent visa, I, Lina Ulloa, had been looking for a foreigner who was in that situation so we can have the opportunity to sue the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility with a Constitutional Protection Action for the abuses. On September 29 was the day I felt happy when at last an American citizen had decided to accept our suggestion to sue the Constitutional Protection Action.

On Friday, November 5th, the hearing took place in the Court, and the judge who heard the case could not believe what was happening and ordered the Ministry to analyze the visa application and grant the visa if it meets all the requirements. Of course the Ministry’s lawyers were not happy with what was happening and appealed the judge’s decision. In a few days we will have the second and last hearing.

Do you have the same case? Was your permanent visa denied because you had used the 90 days of the first year and 90 days of the second year?

We have the answers. Your rights cannot be denied or restricted. Foreigners have the same rights and obligations as Ecuadorians.

For more information, contact dr. Lina ulloa at:
Email: uz.asesoresecuador@gmail.com, or uz.servicios@gmail.com

Av. Jose Peralta 1-19 and Av. 12 de Abril, Building Acropolis, 3rd Floor, office 312.

Gab

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Disqus_wc5vaopdrr

"Foreigners have the same rights and obligations as Ecuadorians." this is demonstrably false, this reminds me of the psychos here who believe insane crap like that their US 1st and 2nd amendment rights exist outside of their backwards homeland lol Gab, please stop maligning working professionals in Azogues because your... Read more 0 0

School Developers

Good job, Lina! 0 0

Monica Gonzaga

In my opinion, all the agents in Azogues, including the coordinator have to be changed because all my life since 2014 that I work as a facilitator they have been an obstacle at the moment of giving visas and other services to foreign people. They do many Illegal things without... Read more 0 0

Jonathan Mason

It is pretty difficult to understand the above, as it appears to be machine translated from Spanish. What I think it is saying is that there was a change in the law in February 2021 regarding temporary visas. Prior to this date, one was allowed up to 90 days overseas... It is pretty difficult to understand the above, as it appears to be machine translated from Spanish. What I think it is saying is that there was a change in the law in February 2021 regarding temporary visas. Prior to this date, one was allowed up to 90 days overseas in each calendar year from the date of issue of the temporary residency visa, and could still apply for a permanent resident visa at the end of that time. Under the new law, there is no restriction on the amount of time spent overseas while on a temporary residency visa. This is what the British Embassy web site says (updated October 2021), and I have read it elsewhere on blogs. (My visa issued on September 29th, 2021 in Guayaquil states quite clearly that the maximum period allowed overseas remains at 90 days per calendar year, however this may well be a case of indiscriminate copy/pasting of old boilerplate text that has not been updated. I think that is probably the case.) The Azogues office is now saying that if someone exceeded 90 days out of the country in one calendar year during the qualifying period., then they do not qualify for a permanent residency visa, because even though the law was changed in February 2021, it is not retrospective. The court has now ruled that the position of the Azogues office is bullshit. Is that it? It does seem extraordinary that the different regional immigration offices in Ecuador make up their own rules on how to interpret the law, and that the Azogues office has a reputation for being particularly hostile to issuing visas. For what it is worth, I would suggest that residents who don't want to use the Azogues office might consider Guayaquil, which is a large city dealing with a huge number of residency visas from people of many nations. I had been told by a gringo-oriented visa agency whose name contains the word "Assist" that I could not get a temporary residency visa in Ecuador and that I would have to pay a $400 fine and leave the country and apply from outside, so I decided to go it alone and apply myself in Guayaquil and it was really not that difficult. Here is the procedure: 1. Travel to Guayaquil, get taxi to ministry of exterior, get out, wander around trying to look like a foreigner who wants a visa until someone approaches you and asks you what you want. 2. Go to office of Nivelservi (phone 099 342 6533) in building adjacent to ministry. Pay them $25 to put together visa application folder and make an appointment. (They may tell you that there is no such thing as a retirement visa, in which case ask them to look it up online. I think most of their visa applicants are Venezolanos and Peruanos, so not too many of retirement age.) 3. Go to appointment with manila folder and cash for visa in hand. 4. Get visa in email. Print it out. 5. Go back to Nivelservi early in day. Pay them $45 for 3 months health insurance, plus $15 5o make same-day appointment for Orden de Cedula and obtain Orden de cedula and then the cedula the same day at the Registro Civil office across town. (If it is now afternoon and they tell you to come back the next day, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain that you might be dead by tomorrow, then proceed as normal.) 6. Go to closest Sweet&Coffee franchise for celebratory cheesecake and coffee. Present cedula at time of payment. Get several plastificated copies of cedula and visa made. (OK I have skipped a couple of small steps regarding paying overstay fine to Migracion, but that will not apply to everyone. Go to Migracion (no appointment needed), go to bank, use line for elderly, pregnant, or infirm, pay multa, go back to Migracion with receipt, get paper, go back to Minsterio del Exterior and say "look I paid my fine") Everybody was very pleasant and super helpful and there were even a few officials who had once seen an English phrasebook--possibly from across the room, but they tried. So if Azogues is playing hide-the-visa, Guayaquil is probably worth a try. Go Guayaquil. Read more 0 0

Pixelvt

If I went to Quito, or Machala, would I have a problem getting my Permanent Visa ? 0 0

The Morrigan

Congratulations! This is wonderful news. Nice to see someone fighting against the officials in Azogues. Best of luck to you in the next hearing. 0 0

Wow! Winning the permanent visa that was denied in Azogues

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