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Professional Residency Visa for Ecuador Step 2, Background Checks

Step 1 of the Professional Visa for Ecuador is all about getting your degree registered with  SENESCYT in Ecuador.   SENESCYT is the agency that manages registered degrees in Ecuador.  Certainly Step 1 is a bit of a paper work drama. Step 2, is your BACKGROUND CHECKS!!! Really this is a needed step for ALL types of visa for Euador. What do you need? If you are coming from the good ole USA, you need 2, not one but 2 background checks.  The State and the Federal.  As you may guess both background checks need to be  Apostille.  They also have to be notarized (in Ecuador) and translated to Spanish.  Unless your Spanish is really really good, Pay someone to do this.  It is usually included in any immigration package deal.  Certainly the one I am using it is included. A big warning on background checks, you need them within 6 months of applying for the visa.  This is a tight window. You do not want to do it until your degree is ...

Professional Residency Visa for Ecuador Step 1

Ecuador has several different types of Residency Visas. They have Visas for working, retirement, investment, digital nomad and more. One of the more interesting and flexible Residency Visas is called the Professional Visa. A Professional visa is for people who have a college degree. Generally a 4 year degree or higher. Traditionally online degrees have not been accepted, but it is possible if the University offers online and in person degrees and have the same requirements. The first step to getting a professional visa is registering your degree with Ecuador. The agency that handles this process is named SENESCYT. The process is simple. You need the following documents An Apostille copy of your diploma An Apostille copy of your transcript An Apostille letter stating your "mode of learning". This letter states you were in a person student If you have attended multiple universities and transferred credits, you need to get the above information for all of the schools yo...

A New Home Base

Some digital nomads may be fine totally wandering with a backpack with no specific home.  I suspect most have some place they call "home".  For me, that will always be Oregon in some way, but it is no longer my Home Base. There is a YouTuber, who has a catch phrase, "Go where you are treated best".  Well, sadly, if you are an upper middle class W2 working person, that is not the USA.  Despite what some political parties try to tell you, taxes in the US are about the worst in the world when you weight in what you get versus what you pay.  With this in mind, it was time to leave the US. Living outside of the US while earning a salary in the US is a bit tricky.  You need the following A job that allows you to do work from anywhere Residency in some state, preferable one that does not charge income tax. (Washington State, Texas, Florida etc...) A country to live that wont charge you taxes for simply existing there. A good tax attorney/accountant (This page is n...