Chinese tighten entry in China; Visa to China now GHc2,000

While Chinese national are pouring into Ghana in droves daily and are now spread across the entire country, the opposite is the case for Ghanaians who want to visit China as the Chinese Government has officially tightened entry of Ghanaians and Africans into their country through new restrictive measures.

For nearly two years now it has become extremely difficult if not impossible for Ghanaians especially new applicants to acquire visas into China. Whereas in the past a trader could, with a return ticket and good statement of accounts get a visa to China, the Chinese government has now introduced new measures ostensibly to curtail the flow of traders into their country.

These measures include an invitation letter, a healthy Bank Statement, a Medical Report, a Police Report and any other document that the Chinese embassy official may request of the applicant.

The policy is simple ‘reduce the flow of Ghanaian traders into china and force them to buy from Chinese immigrant traders here in Ghana instead of importing directly from the factories in Ghaugoung - the industrial hub of China.

This situation has given rise to a lot of ‘connection men’ who are alleged to be conniving with some embassy officials to acquire Chinese visas through the backdoor at a whooping GHc2,000.

“Now it is almost impossible to apply directly to the Chinese Embassy and get a visa unless you pass through an agent” a Ghanaian businesswoman told the SCANDAL. The lady who will not give us her name for fear of being blacklisted said it costs GHs800.00 now for even frequent travelers to China to get a new visa into China.

The lady, however, does not begrudge the Chinese, she said “it is the duty of every government to support and protect their citizens and their businesses. The Americans do it, the British do it, and now the Chinese are doing it. If our governments don’t care, then we don’t have to blame the other countries.”

Efforts to get some clarification from the Chinese Embassy on this matter did not yield any results as no official was prepared to comment.