The center of the world is not a speculative concept at all, but a quite geographically determined one. It is the zero point of the equator, located near the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
For those who don't know: in the center of the world, located in the Andes, it is warm, there it is 20 degrees at night and 28 during the day all year round. Snow-capped peaks are within easy reach, so winter lovers won't feel deprived. Pacific beaches are a three and a half hour drive away or a 20-minute flight on an air taxi ($20) - a boon for devotees of resort vacations. And extreme travelers will get their share of adrenaline in the wild jungles of the upper Amazon.
Do you know what the national currency in circulation in this exotic place is called? That's right: it's the dollar, long familiar to us, green like the jungle itself. And to make it completely familiar, the time here is New York time - 9 hours less than in Kyiv.
However, the most surprising thing is that this center of the world is quite accessible: you can settle there by obtaining permanent residency, and after three years - Ecuadorian citizenship. That is when the feeling - where I live, there is the center of the world - becomes truly adequate.
How to move to the center of the world? What is needed for that? What to do there if rest and pleasures suddenly get boring? A specialist in emigration to such exotic places is Grigory VILENSKY, director of Vilar Trading. He told a special correspondent of «Inostranets» about life in Ecuador and explained how to get there and settle down.
Immigration technology
To become a permanent resident of Ecuador, it is recommended to first obtain an entry visa 12-IХ at the embassy of the same name in Moscow (Gorokhovsky Lane, 12). This visa gives the right to stay in the country for six months and is issued on the basis of an invitation coming from Ecuador, a medical certificate, and a police certificate of no criminal record. Ecuadorian lawyers who cooperate with Vilar Trading provide such an invitation to the firm's clients. The validity period of this visa is sufficient to process permanent residency with the help of a lawyer.
In Ecuador, there are several modifications of residency - visas that allow you to obtain citizenship over time.
Visa 10-I is obtained by someone who wants to live in Ecuador on their own means and does not intend to work there or invest their capital in the local economy. To obtain this visa, the client must provide guarantees from a bank of any country that he has a permanent income or savings calculated at $600 per month for the main applicant and $130 for each family member - for all three years until citizenship is obtained. Moreover, neither the applicant nor his household members will be able to work for hire until they obtain citizenship.
Visa 10-II is obtained by an investor. This is someone who has deposited a guaranteed amount into an Ecuadorian bank account: $1.400 for the applicant and $400 for each family member; or someone who has bought real estate, land, or shares in a local company.
The investor and his family members do not have the right to their own business in Ecuador or to work for hire until citizenship is obtained. However, they have the right to withdraw interest monthly on amounts deposited in the bank, as well as to receive dividends on shares purchased in Ecuador.
This state has no currency exchange rules; there are no restrictions on the import or export of currency. Foreigners are allowed to invest money in any sector of the economy: agriculture, industry, real estate, or tourism. There are many American, Canadian, and European companies and banks here, and all of them are subject to an income tax of 15% on net profit.
Visa 10-III, or business visa, is obtained by someone who has registered their own business in Ecuador. The applicant must invest at least $2.400 in the company's charter capital - for himself and $400 for each family member. This money can be used in the interests of the company - to buy equipment, rent premises, and so on. Adult, independent family members can also be founders of the company.
It is very profitable here to open a family business oriented toward tourists, whose flow to the country does not weaken all year round. Hotels, restaurants, cafes... Experts say that a small cafe with a few tables pays for itself within a year to a year and a half.
Thanks to the relatively calm life and almost ideal conditions for running a private business, even some US residents immigrate to Ecuador. The concept of "racket" is unknown here, and the word "mafia" is associated exclusively with Russia or Italy. All people from the former USSR are treated with great respect. True, they don't like communists - there was a time when they were actively shot here.
Grigory Vilensky claims: almost any business can be profitable in Ecuador. The main thing is to do business a little better than others, he advises. That's not difficult: after all, southerners are rather slow, and against their background our compatriots look like people of boundless energy. It is enough to serve a Latin American in a store with a smile and attention, and you can be sure: he is your client for life.
One of the most developing businesses now is the assembly, sale, and maintenance of computers. Ecuador is experiencing about the same computer boom that our country had in the late 80s and early 90s. Even very small firms and even single assemblers live well. There is great interest in computer programs, and pirated copies are also in demand.
When obtaining residency of this type (visa 10-III), the applicant is given a package of documents for the registered enterprise, one of whose activities is export-import operations. Ecuador exports many things to the USA duty-free: shrimp, bananas, coffee (not roasted), tuna, cocoa beans, flower raw materials, cocoa mass, gold in bars and in products, juices, raw sugar, wood, plywood, flowers.
Visa 10-IV, or work visa, can be obtained with an employment contract regardless of the applicant's specialty or qualifications.
Visa 10-V is obtained by those who engage in individual labor, for which it is necessary to obtain a local work license.
Visa 10-VI is obtained by a foreigner who has married a citizen of Ecuador.
After living in the country for three years under any of the above visas (just do not think that this means continuous residence in the country), one may apply for citizenship. With an Ecuadorian passport, one can enter almost 100 countries without a visa. These include all European countries in the Schengen zone and all states of Central and South America. And a multiple-entry visa for entering the USA is issued in one day.
Buying a home
Real estate in Ecuador is inexpensive - by our standards, of course. One square meter of housing in the capital or on the coast costs from $300 to $500. So a decent three-room apartment will cost about forty thousand.
However, experts advise not to pay everything at once with "your own" money - make a quarter of the price, and take the remaining money as a bank loan. The loan is given for 10 years. Moreover, when obtaining a loan to buy housing, neither guarantors nor a certificate of permanent income are required. The bank is not risking anything: if a borrower stops repaying the loan, the housing is taken away, and the down payment he made is used to cover debts and pay for lawyers' services.
But those who are afraid of going into debt and have the entire necessary amount can pay everything at once. Life simply shows that it is more profitable to invest this money in business: income is usually higher than the bank mortgage rate, which, as a rule, does not exceed 10-15% per annum. And since the price of housing and, accordingly, the size of the loan are small, a businessman or a salaried employee can calmly pay it off in a couple of years.
Education
Primary school education for children aged 5 to 14 is free and compulsory. All state schools are secular and accept students regardless of their religious affiliation, and they teach in Spanish. There are also private schools in the country - secular and religious. In them, tuition does not exceed $1.000 per year.
About 200.000 students study at 16 universities in Ecuador. The largest is considered to be the University of San Francisco - children of wealthy Ecuadorians and foreigners study there. Instruction is in English. The most expensive is the Faculty of Arts; studying there costs $12.000 per year, other faculties are cheaper - $6.000-8.000. The second most important, also the most "intellectual", is the Central University of Ecuador in Quito (60.000 students). They teach there in Spanish and English. The university is considered very advanced in teaching methods, and its diploma is recognized in the USA and Canada. It is a public university, and the tuition fee does not exceed $1.000.
Recently, many private schools and universities have appeared in Ecuador, even military ones (inexpensive: $36-50 per month), where anyone can study, even a foreigner, regardless of age or knowledge of the language.
Immigrants can also find Spanish courses (the price for a month of study is $100-120), where teachers speak Russian. As a rule, nobody studies at the courses for more than three months - the knowledge ob-
tained during this time is enough to get around well, start working or studying.
How to confirm your diploma in Ecuador
When applying for a job in their specialty, a qualified specialist must legalize their diploma.
Legalization of a foreign diploma of higher education is carried out at any university, but it is preferable to do it where there is a specialty close to the profile of the diploma. To confirm the diploma, you must first pass an exam in Spanish. True, this may be reduced to a mere formality: for example, you may be asked to write an autobiography. They may also require you to pass one of the special subjects. Therefore, experts advise: before deciding where to send your diploma for legalization, you should find out everything in advance, which will simplify the task as much as possible.
After the diploma is confirmed by the university, it will have to be submitted to the relevant ministry for licensing. Perhaps all this sounds somewhat threatening. In fact, for example, our doctor can confirm his diploma here in just one year, while in other countries it takes many years. Doctors' salaries reach several thousand dollars a month.
Our teachers are also valued in Ecuador - they can often be found in university departments of exact and natural sciences.
Employment
If an immigrant has the right to work, he can find a job through an employment exchange. Each city in the country has more than one such exchange. You need to submit a copy of your diploma, a certificate of its legalization, a resume, a recommendation from a previous place of work (all documents should be translated into Spanish and the translation certified by a notary), as well as a copy of a civil passport and CEDULE - an internal passport of Ecuador, which is issued upon obtaining a residence permit.
However, experience shows that the lion's share of Russian-speaking immigrants do not seek to work for hire in Ecuador - they go there to do business. And those who still go to work for an employer consider this stage a transitional period to their own entrepreneurship.
Cost of living
Everyone who is going to settle in Ecuador is worried about the question: how much money per month do you need to live decently? It is clear that everyone has their own ideas and needs: a car, an apartment, diet, level of comfort, entertainment...
But still there is a certain standard: Ecuador grants a residence permit - visa 10-I to those who have $600 per month for the head of the family plus $130 for each of the other members. That is, it is believed that a family of four has enough $1.000 for a comfortable life. This is what one should proceed from.