Applying for Ghanaian Passport: The Experiences of a Transport Planner II

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• Disillusioned 10 years ago

  Your comments on obtaining a Ghanaian passport are well noted and the same situation occurs when foreigners want to obtain a visitor permit/visa for Ghana. Firstly they are very expensive, so killing off any opportunity for G ...
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  Your comments on obtaining a Ghanaian passport are well noted and the same situation occurs when foreigners want to obtain a visitor permit/visa for Ghana. Firstly they are very expensive, so killing off any opportunity for Ghana to benefit from increasing tourism. If it is for business or investment, the visa costs eventually have to be met by the local Ghanaian company as business expenses, or the new investors' company as set-up costs....in all cases Ghana loses out. South Africa and all the other tourist-friendly, business-friendly southern African countries have no visa requirements from European, North American and Japanese citizens, for instance. You buy an air ticket and at the airport you are met with a smile, a pleasing "welcome to South Africa" greeting and the officer simply stamps your passport for a 3-month stay. Needless to say South Africa gets far more tourists, business people and investors than Ghana !! Obtaining a Ghanaian visa is both time-consuming and expensive. In the EU an EU citizen can live and work and own property in any European country but Ghana does not recognise this fact. A UK national living in Belgium or Germany for instance has to travel back to the Ghana embassy in London from wherever the person is living in Europe to apply for the visa. This means the costs of an air ticket or ferry costs, train costs and petrol costs must be added to the costs of the Ghana visa. Then you cannot even get a visa on the same day you must return after 5 working days !! so it is necessary to stay in London for the 5 waiting days, or travel back to Belgium or Berlin if you are lucky enough to carry a second passport to enable international travel during the Ghana embassy imposed "waiting period". After 5 working days you then have to return to the London embassy again to pick up your passport. My children just refuse to go through such hassles and expenses to visit Ghana and they simply go on holiday in countries that require no visa, such as South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, the Gambia etc.

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• Kofi Poku 10 years ago

  Excellent ! The whole system is a mess.

  Excellent ! The whole system is a mess.

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• Mama Tula 10 years ago

  You talk as if Ghanaians applying for visa to other earoepan countries get their visas easily. I rweally wonder how you whites always think you should be treated still like supremasists.How many Ghanaians will just take a pla ...
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  You talk as if Ghanaians applying for visa to other earoepan countries get their visas easily. I rweally wonder how you whites always think you should be treated still like supremasists.How many Ghanaians will just take a plane and land at any european airport without a visa as a tourist and would not be put on the same plane back to Ghana?? Mr. Disillusion any time your children feel like coming to Ghana they are welcome but they will be treated equally as far as visa requirements are concerned.

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• Sam 10 years ago

  ANAS WILL REVEAL THEM SOON

  ANAS WILL REVEAL THEM SOON

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• seth 10 years ago

  Pls anas get to passport office and fish out these wicked custom officers who make our lives stucked.collecting innocent moni.500 gh for passport processed.

  Pls anas get to passport office and fish out these wicked custom officers who make our lives stucked.collecting innocent moni.500 gh for passport processed.

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• Hakeem 10 years ago

  Very interesting...we are waiting patiently for your part III.

  Very interesting...we are waiting patiently for your part III.

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• Serwaa Tetteh 10 years ago

  Very engaging article. I however think in discussing the sustainability piece you missed out on submitting electronic applications as an alternative to going there in person. In the Ghanaian High Commission in the UK passport ...
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  Very engaging article. I however think in discussing the sustainability piece you missed out on submitting electronic applications as an alternative to going there in person. In the Ghanaian High Commission in the UK passport applicants are able to download, complete and submit passport application forms online, and then book an appointment online to go and submit the hard copies of the documents. Their biometric data is taken when they attent heir appointment.Applicants may choose to have their passport sent to them by recorded post or go and collect them in person.
  
  Also please stop using "bother" - it is border. I noticed you used it at least three times.
  Good luck with your studies.

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• I CANT THINK? 10 years ago

  Idris, i feel your pain. Unfortunately this is how all Government Agencies work in Ghana. In the Globalised world we have plugged into , its so pathetic and sad that our governments leaders their actions and inactions make us ...
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  Idris, i feel your pain. Unfortunately this is how all Government Agencies work in Ghana. In the Globalised world we have plugged into , its so pathetic and sad that our governments leaders their actions and inactions make us very very uncompetitive and retrogressive. Ghana's leaders default mechanism is to alays shoot themselves in the foot in every thing they do . Its a NO BRAINER!

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• We dey back for so long 10 years ago

  Here in Ontario, Canada.
  
  How do I formally change my own name?
  
  http://www.ontario.ca/faq/how-do-i-formally-change-my-own-name
  
  You can then proceed to change other documents e.g. Canadian passport, Social insurance numbe ...
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  Here in Ontario, Canada.
  
  How do I formally change my own name?
  
  http://www.ontario.ca/faq/how-do-i-formally-change-my-own-name
  
  You can then proceed to change other documents e.g. Canadian passport, Social insurance number, Ontario driver's licence, Ontario health card
  
  Passport Canada website, link below. Nice and clean website.
  
  http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/passport/
  
  When are we going to attain higher levels of efficiency in the Ghana Civil Service?
  
  It is 2015, mobile phone communication is advancinng by the day, why are we not leveraging its positives to make thins work in Ghana? Why are we so cursed?

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