7000 Ghanaian migrants face deportation

The US immigration has reiterated that 7,000 Ghanaians are in the process of being deported from the United States of America (USA) for various immigration offences.

The 7,000 Ghanaians living illegally in the US are being processed for deportation.

The US has imposed visa restriction on some categories of government officials for refusing to accept some 7000 individuals marked for deportation.

However, the Foreign Affairs Minister said Ghana has been very compliant.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said "It is not a situation where, in the last few years, we have not issued any documents at all. We have. For a good number of them, I am told that...17 have already been processed. We are waiting for them to pick up what we have processed while we process the rest."

She gave assurances that work is ongoing to prevent the current US visa restrictions on Ghana from escalating after the initial 120-day deadline.

Statistics from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) revealed that a total of 1,968 Ghanaians who traveled to various countries around the world were either deported or refused entry to the country they were traveling to in 2016.

The breakdown of the figure shows that 1,245 Ghanaians were refused entry into various destinations abroad for failing to meet their respective entry conditions in 2016.

Reasons for refusal of entry include the traveler failing to provide clear information on where the individual is going, misbehaviour towards immigration officer, not having sufficient funds, information provided at entry point contradicts information provided on application form submitted to the embassy to get the visa, and possessing a fake visa.