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St Rose of Lima Church in the Fair Haven neighborhood is a gathering place for many hispanic immigrants living in New Haven.  Church pastor, Father James Manship says many Ecuadorians are parishioners.

He says residents who are members of the local Virgen del Cisne organization invited representatives from the Consulates in Boston and New York to New Haven earlier this year to request the opening of a consulate in Connecticut.

"I would say that the Ecuadorian community here is probably the second largest component of our community here, the first being the Mexican community. In their work to petition the Ecuadorian government to get a consulate office open here, they estimated anywhere between 8,000 Ecuadorians live in the New Haven area."

Elio Cruz is from Puerto Quito, Ecuador. He's lived in New Haven for eight years. Cruz says without the  consulate in Connecticut, Ecuadorians in New England had to travel to New York City to connect to government services.

"And most of the time they had to spend a day or two trying to get a passport. So having a consulate in New Haven makes it easy for residents in Connecticut and surrounding areas like Massachusetts and Rhode Island."

Consulates help citizens living in foreign countries get important documents or register information like births, marriages, and deaths. The Ecuadorian consul office opens on Monday at 1 Church Street in New Haven. Patricio Troyo-Suarez formerly of Berlin, Germany has been appointed Consul of Connecticut's office.