1) Hire a lawyer. My friend Lauren, a former BVSer in Honduras, was told right off the bat that she should hire a lawyer to get her Honduran residency. Had I not already been waist-deep in the process, I would have done the same.
2) You will need several documents from the United States. First, a criminal background check from each state you've lived in for the last 2 years. Also, an original copy (aka a copy certified by the state, not just a photocopy) of your birth certificate. Each of these documents must be notarized in the US, and then "authenticated" by your state's Department of State with an Apostille stamp. Your documents must be translated by an official translator. Use the US Embassy's website to find out who are "official" and who are not. If you're lucky, and come to El Salvador after I finish my BVS placement, you might find me here ... as a translator ... in which case I will happily help you through the very confusing process. Post translation, all documents and translations MUST be notarized by a Salvadoran notary. And signed by the translator.
3) A letter from Mr Dan McFadden himself as BVS Director saying that you are being "sent" to your placement. It will also need to be notarized, Apostille-d, translated, and notarized again, as per the other documents. They (Immigration) won't tell you this off the bat, so you'll probably waste 3 or 6 months thinking you have everything together ... like I did. And then they'll tell you 3 days before (or in my case, 3 months after) you become illegal and you'll have to either high tail it out of the C4 region (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras) before your visa expires OR pay a hefty fine of $114.29.
4) Do not, whatever you do, assume that C4 means EU. Or that the countries are like states in the US, where you can travel mostly freely across borders and still be under the same federal jurisdiction. Salvadorans can travel through the C4 countries with just their national ID card, or DUI (pronounced Dewey), but you, my friend, cannot. You must have a valid visa. Immigration will not tell you this when you go for your first encounter with them. And, taking your documents to the border does not mean anyone will help you out if you are illegal. Nor will they really help you in the office in San Salvador either. To get your new 3 month stamp WITHOUT LEAVING EL SALVADOR you have to have all your paperwork in order and TURN IT IN. Then they'll finally smile and give you your stamp. Hopefully.
5) Fees: Be prepared to shell out quite a bit for translations. Cost is per page, generally. Notarizations will also cost you per page, and immigration will charge you $121.43 when you turn everything in. We're talking around $500 for a 1-year residency. No longer can you do a 2-year deal. If you hire a lawyer, they'll do the whole process for around $400, and then you'll still have to pay immigration. Doing the math in terms of leaving every 3 months, let's assume you head to Mexico via Tica Bus. 16 hours round trip, about $75 for the bus ticket, plus lodging in Mexico and food along the way. Going to run you between $100 and 125ish each time. 4 times per year, for 2 years ... at least $800 to leave and come back. Not to mention the time you've spent going. If you're like me, you always feel like you have a million things to do and don't really want to just leave it all to go get a stamp on your passport ... but of course, in life, there are always necessary evils.
6) When you travel through the C4 countries, Honduras and Guatemala will want to give you 90 more days on your passport when you enter and/or exit. You'll have to explain that you live in El Salvador, US State #52, and that you have to have a stamp from outside of C4 in order to get Guatemala's or any other C4 country's 90-day visa. Sometimes, you will encounter nice people on the Salvadoran side of the border who want to help you out and are sorry you sort of got screwed by immigration in the city ... and then you will encounter nice employee's boss who will give you a lecture about being illegal and tell you there's no excuse for not having your paperwork turned in, regardless of whatever your reason is for not having completely fulfilled the document transmission. You will then likely feel about the size of a pea, and decide to help others out by showing everyone immigration's hidden secrets.
7) I've written this in a pretty cynical tone, I think, but it's all true. And, immigration will change their rules from time to time to keep you on your toes.
8) Make sure when you order documents from the US, the people on the other end of the line (well, if you're smart, you'll do this ahead of time and get to immigration as soon as you arrive in-country, and then get the process moving either by hiring someone or making sure the person who is designated to help you knows what they're doing ... it's good to trust people. But maybe sometimes hold your cards a little close to you ... ) know that this is an URGENT matter and that they can't dilly-dally in their processing. Your documents expire 3 months from the date issued, and if they're expired, you have to request new ones. And possibly new translations. So, stay on your toes, and make sure your project knows about all this. If they don't, call me. I will come help. And if I'm back in the US, call anyway, and I'll make a trip down to visit / help you :)
9) Just put all your cards on the table and accept one of the 12,000 offers of marriage you'll receive within the first 3 weeks of being here. Kidding. But it's crossed my mind. It crossed quickly. Certainly would make things with immigration much easier ...
10) Breathe. I should take my own advice.
