Or How Three NO’s Were Turned Into a YES

Today we were finally ready to go to the Immigration Office to apply for our Ecuadorian Residency Visa. We have heard several times not to expect to get anything else done when you do this, and they were sooo right!  I thought it might be interesting to put together a timeline of how the day progressed.  I was using EverNotes on my iPhone to make notes during the day — there wasn’t much else to do most of the time…

We had originally planned on doing this more than two weeks ago.  We had all of our American papers in order and met with our lawyer.  He said we had to also get a Migration Report. That turned into a mini-drama (see blog entry ‘Doctors, Lawyers, Carpenters, Electricians, Oh My‘ for the details).  Our lawyer had to drive our passports and erroneous Migration Report to Quito to get the report fixed.  A couple days ago we were told to go get a new Migration Report.  We did so, and found everything corrected as it should be this time.  With that in hand, we were told to go to the Immigration Office by 7:30 this morning. 

We arose to light rain, and took a taxi to the office.  What follows is an account of how our day unfolded.

• 7:30AM – Arrived at the Immigration Office.  There were already about a dozen people in line.

By 8:15 I was bored and still waiting…

• 8:30AM – The office door opened, and a woman emerged to take everyone’s names and passport numbers.  The line that had formed pretty much collapsed, with everyone crowding to the front, regardless of any line that existed moments before.  Two men tried to cut in front us of, and I strategically used my crutches to block their approach.  I’m already learning how to live like an Ecuadorian!
• 8:45AM – An agent came out and told us when our appointment would be.  We were told to return at 10:00AM.  Our attorney had asked us to try to get an appointment after 12:00, so he could finish some notorization, but the agent said “No, that is your appointment. You can come back tomorrow if you are not ready.”  (All customer-facing people in the office are bilingual, and speak both Spanish and English, at a minimum).  We called our lawyer, and he said OK and that his daughter would be there with our papers at 10:00.
• 9:00AM – Evelyn went around the corner to Tuddo Freddi’s and brought back a small breakfast. $4 got us a small breakfast of scrambled eggs, bisquit and juice.  We got kicked out of the office for eating, so went on the steps to finish.
• 10:00AM – Gaby (our lawyer’s daughter) arrived, but she was not really ready.  She still had a doc to notarize (since they had all these from us for weeks, why wait till today to do this???).  She convinced the Immigration agent to use a photocopy for review, and said she would be back at 11:00 with the final document.  Agents then took our docs into a back room to study.
• 11:15AM – Gaby still not back, but agent pulls us up and questions why my birth name (Burton) does not match my passport name (Burt).  We state that there should be a document there explaining my name changes during my life.  Nope. It isn’t there. We call our attorney, who speaks to the agent.  After failing to convince the agent that the passport should be sufficient to show the name change was legit, he says he will translate that doc (that we gave him 2 months ago) and get it here.  First NO has been received…  ☹ (I had fully expected that name variations would be a sticking point for my application, and had taken extra steps to try and alleviate it)
• 11:45AM – Lawyer has still not arrived. Agent tells us that if they are not here in 5 minutes, we have to come back tomorrow and start over.  Agent refuses to talk to lawyer on phone.
• 11:50AM – Agent tells us our papers are not acceptable, hands them back to us, and tells us we have to start over tomorrow.  Second NO has been received…
• 12:00PM – Jenny (our lawyer’s wife) arrives, still without needed papers.  She talks to agent, and convinces the agent to give us an appointment for 2:30 this afternoon.  We are back in the game!  Jenny then leaves and says she will be back at 2:30 (she does not speak English, but we can get the basics communicated).

Delicious burger, oregano fries and milkshake lunch cost us less than $6

• 12:15PM – Went around the corner to Chill & Grill for an inexpensive and delicious hamburger, fries and shake.  As the restaurant filled up, we moved next door to SuperMaxi, where we sat on a bench until our afternoon appointment.
• 2:20PM – Returned to the Immigration Office. Jenny was already there, and she gave the agent our full set of documents.
• 2:50PM – Agent came back out and complained about a referenced name change in Oregon in 1980, and said they would not accept our documents unless we could show an apostilled copy of that court order.  (I had not gotten it because it looked like I would have to fly to Oregon to get it in person, and our lawyer said it wasn’t needed).  They handed me back our documents and said the application was not acceptable. Third NO has been received…
• 2:55PM – Jenny was allowed to go into the back room and talk to the immigration lawyers (rather than the front desk agent).  Evelyn and I start talking about alternatives for how to get that 1980 court document notarized and apostilled.  Some ideas are hatched.
• 3:30PM – Jenny returns, and the agent asks us to come to the desk to sign the applications.  We have been approved!  Jenny convinced their lawyers that the US government checks out name changes and that they accepted my name change for my first passport in 1980, and all subsequent passports, and that Ecuador should also accept it.  They finally agreed!  OUR NO TURNED INTO A YES!
• 3:35PM – The agent asks me to sit in front of a camera for a photo.  She waits a minute or more, then clicks with no warning.  I blinked…  She says to try again.  She again waits a very long time, then clicks as I blink.  After 6 tries, she says “maybe we will shoot it next time you come in.”  I failed at having a photo taken!?
• 3:40PM – Evelyn is asked to sit by the same agent. This time the agent says “Ready, 3, 2, 1” and so, of course, no blinking and the photo is fine the first time…
• 3:41PM – Evelyn suggests I try again. Once again, the agent waits a full minute and then, with no warning clicks the picture.  What?  How come Evelyn got a warning and I did not?  Not sure what that was all about, but apparently the agent was happy that time, and I was released from the Death Chair (aka ‘passport photo chair’).
• 3:45PM – Evelyn is pulled by the sleeves into a back room.  I have no idea what is going on, but 10 minutes later she returns with a paid receipt for our application. We are now official!
• 4:15PM – We are back in the lawyer’s office, where he tells us we are lucky — not everyone can get by with name discrepancies like I have.  We are told to expect our Visa in 30 days, after which we will apply for the Cedula, which will take another couple weeks.

Tonight we went out and celebrated at Mediteraneo’s, an upscale Italian restaurant about half a block from our condo. Prime rib with mushrooms with all the trimmings, a tuna salid, and two glasses of very nice wine — $28.  Gotta love this place! ☺