Expats Move to Ecuador for its Wealth of Charms

Some move to Ecuador to enjoy its colonial treasures, such as the Iglesia de San Francisco in Quito. 

Learn more about moving to Ecuador in IL Postcards.

Ecuador is a truly unique country and although it is not on many people's radars, moving to Ecuador should be a definite consideration if you are thinking about moving overseas. Ecuador is one of numerous places around the world where you can find cheap land. But in many of these places, you'd lead an uncomfortable life, far from friends and family and disconnected from the rest of the world. Such is not the case, however, when you move to Ecuador.

In this country one can live a truly amazing lifestyle. You can golf on breathtaking courses where you never have to make a tee time. You can have a driver, a cook, or a maid for a fraction of the cost you'd pay back home. You can eat a gourmet meal in world-class restaurants of every cuisine at prices unheard of in Los Angeles, New York or London. Or you can cook for yourself using market-fresh fruits and vegetables only seen in specialty shops in North America.

Moving to Ecuador also keeps you relatively close to friends and family back home. Daily flights connect Ecuador to major hubs throughout the hemisphere, and the flight to Miami is less than four hours. Cell phones and Internet cafés are everywhere in Ecuador and high-speed home Internet hookups are quite common.

Who is Moving to Ecuador?

Foreigners are drawn into moving to Ecuador for a variety of reasons. If you move to Ecuador you will find an expat community of entrepreneurs, travelers, advisors, foreign officials, diplomats, businessmen of all stripes, and of course, retirees looking to stretch their money and experience a different way of life.

Recently, we've also seen many expats who move to Ecuador seeking a less-intrusive government, and the tranquility of a neutral country amidst the terrorism/anti-terrorism problems engulfing the rest of the world. As always, there are also a fair number of students and missionaries as well.

Generally speaking, the expats who have moved to Ecuador are those who tend to blend into the society rather than live together in nonintegrated, expat-oriented communities.

Nonetheless, a bit of time in any town of significant size in Ecuador is all it takes to find the haunts and watering holes of the non-natives. The expat community is probably equally mixed between people who are conducting some sort of business and those who have retired in Ecuador.

How to Move to Ecuador

There are a number of ways to become an Ecuadorian resident, and the process is fairly straightforward. You submit your immigrant-status visa application at the Ecuadorian consulate nearest your former residence, but it is approved through the Ministry of Foreign Relations, so expect the approval process to take four to eight weeks. Visa applications for your dependents, however, can be processed directly by the consulate once your application has been approved.

Learn more about moving to Ecuador in IL Postcards.

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10/24/2006 - Moving to Ecuador is a Leap of Faith
Ecuador mostly appeals to the adventurer, expat, or investor willing to take a leap of faith, both geographical and psychological, across the continental divide from Central to South America.