Working Abroad, Connected to Home — The Ecuadorians Behind the Remittances

In Los Angeles, Ecuadorian entrepreneur Fernando Bueno has built a business around something that migration cannot erase: the desire to remain connected to home.

His company, Geomil Shipping Los Angeles, helps families send packages between the United States and Ecuador. According to Expreso, the business connects approximately 500 families and dispatched 55,500 packages in a year.

Behind each shipment is a relationship that continues across borders.

Money follows many of the same routes. Ecuadorians abroad send billions of dollars home, helping relatives pay bills, raise children and maintain businesses. But the figures reveal little about the people earning that money—or the different paths their lives have taken.

Some have built successful businesses and careers. Others have started over in unfamiliar jobs, endured separation from their families or faced dangerous journeys and uncertain immigration status.

Building something new

Gabriela Espinoza arrived in the United States from Quito looking for work. There she met Washington Espinoza, originally from Cariamanga in Loja province, who had already established himself in business.

Their relationship eventually became both personal and professional.

As El Comercio reported, they developed Mamazzita, a food business, and Baru Entertainment, an entertainment venture serving migrant communities.

Their businesses provide food and entertainment to Ecuadorians and other customers in the United States.

Other migrants maintain businesses in Ecuador itself.

Alberto Sánchez has lived in New Jersey for approximately fifteen years. He paints houses in the United States while maintaining a small bazaar in Quevedo, managed day to day by his brother-in-law.

According to Primicias, Sánchez remains involved in the business and visits Ecuador to review its operations.

For him, working abroad has not meant ending his economic involvement at home.

Starting again, even with qualifications

Success abroad does not always follow a straight path.

Alex, an Ecuadorian former university professor with two master's degrees, arrived in New York expecting to rebuild his professional career. But his qualifications did not immediately open the doors he had hoped for.

Instead, he assembled furniture, carried out household repairs and delivered food while seeking recognition of his academic credentials.

His experience, documented by Primicias, illustrates the gap between professional experience in Ecuador and the opportunities available after migration.

For some Ecuadorians, a higher income abroad comes with a loss of professional status. The decision to remain can involve balancing financial opportunities against the work and identity they left behind.

The dangerous journey

Not every Ecuadorian reaches the United States through a conventional immigration process.

Some pay smugglers, commonly called coyotes, to guide them through Central America and Mexico. These journeys can expose migrants to robbery, extortion, dangerous terrain and debts that remain long after the journey ends.

Marlene, an Ecuadorian mother whose experience was reported by Primicias, left after threats against her family, including her son.

She travelled with her two children after hiring smugglers. At the time of the report, she was awaiting a decision on her asylum application in the United States.

Her story illustrates how migration can be driven by fear and family safety, not only the prospect of higher earnings.

Reaching the United States does not necessarily end the uncertainty.

In August 2026, Ecuadorian mother Grace Calero and her 19-year-old daughter were detained by U.S. immigration authorities following a traffic accident in Florida.

They spent five days in detention before returning to Guayaquil. Calero told El Comercio that she had an approved work permit and that her immigration case was under review.

Her account illustrates the uncertainty that immigration enforcement can create for families, including people with pending legal proceedings.

The families who remain

Migration decisions often affect people on both sides of the journey.

One Ecuadorian mother returned to Spain in 2024 hoping to reunite with her teenage son. She had lived there previously and believed she could establish herself again.

But expensive housing and irregular employment made reunification difficult. She returned to Ecuador in June 2025 and, with assistance from a programme for returning migrants, opened a small laundry business.

Another Ecuadorian, Michelle Paz, worked caring for elderly people in Spain while her young daughter remained in Ecuador. After difficulties regularizing her immigration status, she began preparing to return to Quito and establish a butcher shop.

Both experiences were documented by Primicias.

For families, money sent home can pay for education, housing and everyday needs. But it cannot replace time together.

Returning to Ecuador can mean leaving behind higher potential earnings in exchange for being closer to children, relatives and familiar communities.

The money behind the stories

The scale of these connections is substantial.

According to the Banco Central del Ecuador, Ecuador received approximately $7.73 billion in remittances during 2025, a record annual total.

In the second quarter of 2026, another $2.04 billion arrived, with the United States accounting for 78.5% of transfers and Spain remaining the second-largest source.

For recipient households, those transfers can help cover food, education, housing and small businesses. For the people sending them, the money may represent long working hours, delayed personal plans or continued responsibility for relatives thousands of kilometres away.

Remittances are only one part of the connection. Migrants also send packages, maintain property, invest in businesses and sometimes return with savings or experience to begin new ventures.

Connected across borders

Ecuadorian migration has no single story.

It includes entrepreneurs building companies abroad, professionals accepting unfamiliar work, families separated by distance, and people navigating dangerous journeys or uncertain immigration status.

It also includes those who return home and those who establish permanent lives overseas while continuing to support relatives and communities in Ecuador.

For Fernando Bueno, those connections have become a business linking hundreds of families. For Alberto Sánchez, they include a shop in Quevedo that continues operating while he works in New Jersey. For others, they take the form of a regular transfer to help a parent, partner or child.

The billions arriving in Ecuador are more than an economic statistic. They represent the work of people living far from home, the families who depend on them, and the connections they continue to maintain.

The money crosses borders in seconds. The relationships behind it can last a lifetime.