To my fellow expats in Cuenca –
I wanted to give you a “heads up” about cedula renewal. You may already be one step ahead of me on this, but if you are not, I just wanted to pass along this information, “just in case”.
I have lived in Cuenca since early 2013, and around the end of March (this year) I realized my cedula was due to expire in 6 months. If I have learned anything about living here in Ecuador, is that you do not wait until the last moment to do anything (problemas y pretextos).
So, I thought I had better start the process now. Glad that I did.
After doing some research I found out that you must have a valid passport to renew your cedula (and a visa transfer from the old passport to the new passport) before getting the new cedula.
Checked my passport, and after 10 years here it had expired. So, the first step was to get a new passport.
I contacted Ulloa and Zamora (Asesores Ecuador). Best money ever spent. One meeting, and they handled all the necessary paperwork and forwarded the documents and application for a new passport to the US Department of State in Washington, D.C. This service also included pre-paid DHL return to Cuenca.
I waited from mid-March to mid-June (3 months) to get back my old and new passports. The State Dept. is not sending back to Cuenca individual passports anymore, but they are holding them in Washington, D.C. until they get a bunch and then sending them back to Cuenca (via DHL) as a group.
After getting back my new passport in mid-June, I contacted Isabel Mosquera, a facilitator with over 7 years’ experience, knowledgeable about all recent changes in the law, who does visa transfers and cedula renewals all the time. Second best money ever spent.
I met with Isabel once, and she took things from there. Had to get a copy of my IESS proof of coverage, a new passport sized photo, and bank statements from Banco Guayaquil showing proof of social security deposits from the US.
After which Isabel contacted the Ministerio De Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana in Azogues for an appointment to start the visa transfer process from the old to the new passport. Got an appointment for August 3 (from mid-June when the Ministerio was initially contacted).
At that appointment all paperwork was submitted, and after that appointment, the Ministerio sent me an email for a second appointment for Aug. 9, to go pick up the paperwork submitted the week before. By the time I got home from Azogues, I had an email from the Ministerio with my new permanent residency visa. No more visas in the passport book… instead, an electronic visa in your email. So now the visa is in the “system” of the Ecuadorian government. I printed this out and I have made several hard copies of my new visa… “just in case”.
This past week Isabel took me to the Registro Civil in Cuenca and I received my new cedula.
I have been advised by Isabel that her clients who are now applying for a new visa / cedula are not getting appointments with the Ministerio until November. Huge backlog with the closure of the office in Machala.
So from mid-June until mid-August it took me 5 months to go through this process to get a new passport, to do the visa transfer, and finally to get the new cedula… with one month to spare before my original cedula expired.
In 10 years, I will have to get a new cedula again… if I am still above ground. In 10 years I will be 82, and odds are they will have to put me in a wheel chair and push me to Azogues.
If you have not gone through this process yet… I hope this information helps. Good luck.
Michael Littmann: .
City: Cuenca
I wanted to give you a “heads up” about cedula renewal. You may already be one step ahead of me on this, but if you are not, I just wanted to pass along this information, “just in case”.
I have lived in Cuenca since early 2013, and around the end of March (this year) I realized my cedula was due to expire in 6 months. If I have learned anything about living here in Ecuador, is that you do not wait until the last moment to do anything (problemas y pretextos).
So, I thought I had better start the process now. Glad that I did.
After doing some research I found out that you must have a valid passport to renew your cedula (and a visa transfer from the old passport to the new passport) before getting the new cedula.
Checked my passport, and after 10 years here it had expired. So, the first step was to get a new passport.
I contacted Ulloa and Zamora (Asesores Ecuador). Best money ever spent. One meeting, and they handled all the necessary paperwork and forwarded the documents and application for a new passport to the US Department of State in Washington, D.C. This service also included pre-paid DHL return to Cuenca.
I waited from mid-March to mid-June (3 months) to get back my old and new passports. The State Dept. is not sending back to Cuenca individual passports anymore, but they are holding them in Washington, D.C. until they get a bunch and then sending them back to Cuenca (via DHL) as a group.
After getting back my new passport in mid-June, I contacted Isabel Mosquera, a facilitator with over 7 years’ experience, knowledgeable about all recent changes in the law, who does visa transfers and cedula renewals all the time. Second best money ever spent.
I met with Isabel once, and she took things from there. Had to get a copy of my IESS proof of coverage, a new passport sized photo, and bank statements from Banco Guayaquil showing proof of social security deposits from the US.
After which Isabel contacted the Ministerio De Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana in Azogues for an appointment to start the visa transfer process from the old to the new passport. Got an appointment for August 3 (from mid-June when the Ministerio was initially contacted).
At that appointment all paperwork was submitted, and after that appointment, the Ministerio sent me an email for a second appointment for Aug. 9, to go pick up the paperwork submitted the week before. By the time I got home from Azogues, I had an email from the Ministerio with my new permanent residency visa. No more visas in the passport book… instead, an electronic visa in your email. So now the visa is in the “system” of the Ecuadorian government. I printed this out and I have made several hard copies of my new visa… “just in case”.
This past week Isabel took me to the Registro Civil in Cuenca and I received my new cedula.
I have been advised by Isabel that her clients who are now applying for a new visa / cedula are not getting appointments with the Ministerio until November. Huge backlog with the closure of the office in Machala.
So from mid-June until mid-August it took me 5 months to go through this process to get a new passport, to do the visa transfer, and finally to get the new cedula… with one month to spare before my original cedula expired.
In 10 years, I will have to get a new cedula again… if I am still above ground. In 10 years I will be 82, and odds are they will have to put me in a wheel chair and push me to Azogues.
If you have not gone through this process yet… I hope this information helps. Good luck.
Michael Littmann: .
City: Cuenca
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