Saturday, September 6, 2014

Making Progress. . . and Yet Another Set of Hoops to Go Through

All the latest from your humble scribe. . .

Pilgrim's Rest, our humble abode, is still on track to getting the escrow closed and sold to the second buyer that made an offer for us.  Our Real Estate agent made it back from vacation in Australia, and he is on board with helping things get done and followed through the escrow process.  This is welcome news for us, and as a result, yesterday much was accomplished. 

The termite inspection was done, I had a meeting with the escrow company to sign the necessary paperwork for the sale to go through, and the home inspection was done later in the afternoon.  Tuesday the appraisal will take place, and that is all I know needs to be done except for the lender approving the loan.  They will of course want to see the appraisal and perhaps other documents mentioned above, and then the loan should be formally approved, and a date set for our move out and giving over the keys to the new owner.  We're getting much closer to getting that part of the process of moving to Ecuador done, which is great and exciting news. 

BTW, our (second) buyer, who I was able to meet in person that past Sunday, has $42k cash to put down and has a preapproved mortgage already made out.  That is what should have happened with the first buyer.  You live and learn.  I have a good sense this buyer is gonna be following through and not flake off  like the first one did.

After talking on Skype again with our legal firm in Cuenca, Ecuador, we have direction on what papers to present to the Ecuadorian Consulate in Beverly Hills, CA.  Birth Certificates for my wife and I, and the Social Security proof of earnings letter in my name (since I am the one currently receiving the SSDI pension monies). 

We made the visit again to the Ecuadorian (EC for short) Consulate - our second visit - and focused on just these three documents.  We were refused authentication on all three from the Consular official present and given direction on what to do to get her to authenticate the documents, namely: get current birth certificates with a recent stamp date - our documents were 31 and 16 years old, get a full 8 and a half by 11 inches birth certificate for me - my document was older and not the size they are used to seeing, and get my document in color, not black and white like the one I present her with.  Likewise get a recent up to date birth certificate for my wife, who was born out of state.  That means in her case using the mail, or UPS.  We chose UPS after hearing from the state government office involved back east would turn around the document in a 2 to 3 days processing time if it were shipped to them via UPS.  Amazing if true, and might as well go for it that way.  Then, get both birth certificates apostilled.  Mine at the State of California Secretary of State's office - the consular official mentioned the Ronald Reagan State office building in Downtown Los Angeles.  Hers would have to be sent by her from here to her state's Secretary of State office for the apostille.  Once that is all done, then authenticate the documents at the Ecuadorian Consulate.  OK. 

And that's just for the birth certificates.  Processsing times for hers, supposedly 2 to 3 days in that office, and a week to send it by regular UPS mail.  Return mail takes maybe a 5 or 7 day period max, so three weeks for hers.  Mine was submitted in person here where I was born, and the processing time is stated to be 20 working days (it could be less, of course). 

Social Security proof of earnings letter has to go to the Ronald Reagan office building in DTLA to the State of California Secretary of State's office to be apostilled, according to the Ecuadorian Consulate.  That sounds a bit strange, as it is a Federal document, not a State of California one.  Nevertheless, they will get what they specified. . . I asked about that particular detail to the EC Consular official, and she reiterated in English that it was the State of California Secretary of State, not the US Federal Secretary of State.  Sigh.  Then the EC Consulate will authenticate the letter, and issue a Certificate Letter stating they agree with the perception of such income is as stated.  OK. 

Easy enough to get this letter apostilled at the Ronald Reagan state office building office. . . I hope.  What if the CA Secretary of State's office doesn't do that?  I need to place a call to them before I drive down there and spend that kind of time doing that.  Sigh. 

Timeline now looks as follows:

  • SSDI Proof of Income letter - two working days (I hope)
  • My Birth Certificate - 20 working days plus a day at RR State Office Bldg. plus a day at EC Consulate
  • Wife's Birth Certificate - ~17 days total for mailing via UPS/USPS? and the 2 to 3 days processing time included. . if all goes well as stated to me on the telephone.  I am frankly anticipating around 20 days processing time like LA County stated.  I just hope they don't lose the Birth Certificate request.  Then around 5 days to mail to her state once again for the apostille, ~5 days to, ??days processing for apostille, and 5 days back to get the document apostilled in her state. 
Bottom line, it looks like we are set back a month give or take from where we would have liked to be at in the whole moving process.  I had heard about the need to be patient and flexible, and this is probably not the last of it. . . and we haven't even left the US yet!  The good news is we are still within the timeframe we had hoped to have to be in Cuenca by November 1.  Depends on what the EC Consulate does with our resubmitted documents, of course. 

Good thing I heard from the Lord that the paperwork should be looked at now at the EC Consulate.  What if I had waited until later when we would get the "pet visa" (discussed below) for our dog?  You can never be too early to do documents and paperwork.  Always something new to learn everyday. 

By the way, the reason why we are submitting Birth Certificates, which was not discussed a couple of posts earlier in what to submit for paperwork, is from the advice of our legal counsel in Ecuador.  FYI.  Your mileage may vary. . . and probably will.  Things change all the time in international immigration issues between nations, and USA to Ecuador has 'em too. 

Now on to some hopefully good news: the last item we need to deal with documentwise is our dog and his papers as he travels with us to Ecuador.  I have been doing quite a bit of research on the whole topic, and it seems to boil down to this: Rabies shot has to be performed by our local vet 60 days (or more) before he lands in Ecuador.  Other shots need to be given within 30 days (or more).  We've done these already about 10 days ago.  This gives us a potential airplane landing date in Ecuador of no earlier than October 25, based on the date of the rabies inoculation given.

Parasite check (inside and outside) is to be done within 21  days of landing in Ecuador. . . this will start a clock of sorts.  First off, we have to do this at the local vet, who will have the USDA 7001 form to fill out.  They have it on their computer software system. . . I checked.  Then we go to the USDA APHIS VS vet office in El Segundo (they recently changed addresses from Hawthorne to El Segundo (closer to LAX, btw) to get their VS 7001 form signed off from the USDA.  So far, so good.  And the clock doesn't start ticking. . . yet.  It starts ticking when the EC Consular official who gets the USDA Form 7001 that by now is all (correctly and completely) filled out, approves it and issues what could be called a "pet visa."  Very official looking document from what I saw on the 'Net. 

Here's a link to a site I found most helpful.  It seems to be from one who has performed the transport of pets from the USA to Ecuador a number of times recently, so I find that useful, though it's not from an official source.  http://www.casadecuenca.biz/Bringing_your_pets_to_Ecuador.pdf

As you can see, lots of hoops to go through, and lots of loose ends to take care of as we progress ever closer to our goal of traveling to Cuenca, Ecuador for the purposes of retirement there.  Getting this residence sold is now becoming an achievable goal.  Now the paperwork issues are front and center.  Others have done them, and we will get it done, too.  By the help, wisdom, and the Grace of God it will!  Your prayers for us in all of this are coveted and appreciated so very much.  Selah.

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