Certifications. Tick off!

Originally, I wanted to apply for an investor's visa straight away. This would have required to have the company set-up before I actually went to Ecuador. A bit difficult, if you are supposed to be present to form the company... So, the only option was to apply for an extended tourist visa and sort out the investor's visa once we have formed the company. The investor's visa is valid for life and gives you all freedom in terms of work, and residency, etc.

In order to apply for a 6 month tourist visa, you need to supply the following items:

• 3 passport pictures - not that difficult :)
• Valid passport - have
• Flight confirmation - sure
• Police clearance certificate (dt: Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis)
• Health certificate stating that you have no communicable deseases
• Finance statement that shows that you have enough funds to support yourself during your stay. This can also be a simple bank statement.

As of today, I have all of the above (apart from the bank statement that I can print myself at the end of this month). So, actually, not much can go wrong from here :)

Since I had time at my hand, this was all very easy to get hold of. Of course, being a German citizen living in Switzerland, I had to drive across the border to get my Police Certificate Request Form (lol) authenticate by the major's office. No big deal really. If you are in a hurry though, this could be a bit of a test of patience.