Ghana to begin issuing E-visas by the close of the year
An advanced E-Visa system has been procured by Ghana and is set to be installed at the airport and the Ghana Immigration Service Data Centers which will modernise visa application and issuance of E-visas by the end of the year.
The E-visa project which commenced in 2020 and is currently at the final stage involves the installation of the necessary equipment which will read the data of applicants from all over the world into a database of the Ghana Immigration Service which will help to accept or deny visas from the source.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway at the launch of the Site Acceptance Test (SAT), indicated that the new system will enhance the security features of Ghana’s visa regime.
“The new system will have all your relevant data just like the visas you get when you apply to the UK or the US. That’s what we’re starting with. We need to be able to get a good database of the people who come here. Our systems in our missions abroad and immigration in Ghana need to be synchronized to prevent people from faking our visas.
“The current visa stickers we use are handwritten and it’s a major problem for us where some people are even able to fake our visas and it’s difficult for us to detect. This will be a thing of the past,” she noted.
Ghana’s missions in London, UK and Berlin, Germany are scheduled as the first to start issuing the E-visas to applicants coming to Ghana upon successful completion of the installation of the equipment in Ghana and its subsequent testing.
This will be subsequently rolled out to all of Ghana’s missions globally after the trial period. The Foreign Affairs Minister said, “when we have a good database of people who are frequent visitors the decision will be made on when to start issuing electronic visas.”
The Ghana Immigration Service on its part says the new system will expedite the application process and help with the immediate detection and prevention of unscrupulous persons who would want to enter Ghana.
Head of Public Relations of the Ghana Immigration Service, Michael Amoako Atta said the new system will also help protect and secure data gathered from applicants and officers will “access the system to get any information needed of suspicious individuals which can then be sent to the national security for further investigations. It will also help us safeguard the country and prevent unwanted miscreants”.
Ghana will by the end of the year join over 60 countries that issue E-visas and will be the fifth in Africa to do so.
