ROM Passengers entering the nation with the Ghana Card after March 31 won’t need to fill out landing cards because their information would be electronically retrieved.
H.E Dr Mahamudu Bawumia (Vice President of Ghana)
The decision was made following a meeting with Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in Accra with representatives from the transportation and aviation sectors.
Dr. Bawumia wrote on Facebook that he had a productive meeting with key stakeholders, including the minister of public enterprises, the transport minister and his deputy, the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), the Ghana Immigration Service, the National Security Agency, and the interior ministry, to discuss enhancing the competitiveness of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
“It was determined, among other things, that beginning on March 31, 2023, landing cards will no longer be required of airline passengers flying to Ghana. This is due to the availability of the same information electronically, according to the post’s addition.
Additionally, it stated that procedures travelers go through at the KIA would be streamlined to eliminate redundancy and shorten wait times.
Dr. Bawumia stated that the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Ministry for the Interior had been instructed to make sure that the E-gate system at KIA was functioning this year so that travelers may use their passports or Ghana cards to access.
Ghana Card
You may remember that on March 1 of last year, certain Ghanaian travelers were allowed entry into the nation using the Ghana card rather than passports for the first time.
The GIS conducted the process for a total of 14 passengers on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight (ET 921) from Addis Abeba that landed at at around 11:15 a.m. that day.
This was done in order to formally announce the Ghana Card’s use as an ICAO-compliant travel document beginning on March 1, 2022.
Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) Sharif Karikari, the Deputy Head of the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department of the GIS, informed media personnel who were at the airport to observe the procedure that some booths had been designated as places to admit Ghanaians with Ghana cards into the country.
He explained that the national identification registry would be used to confirm the cardholders’ identities at the airport “before we proceed to admit the traveler to ensure the bearer is actually the genuine owner of the card.”
“When a person only has the card, we process the person through the system and, following verification, the person is processed through the embarkation card before being admitted to the country,” Mr. Karikari said, adding that information had been sent to all airlines regarding the admission of passengers with the cards.
Regarding foreigners having Ghana cards, he stated in response to an inquiry that “those with non-citizen cards who are foreigners could not utilize it since they are other nationalities.”
He claimed that after a Ghanaian passenger’s identity was confirmed, they would be allowed entry.
Bilateral Understanding
The first step, according to Superintendent Michael Amoako-Atta, the GIS’s Head of Public Affairs, is for Ghanaians to enter the nation.
The next step was for the nation to enter into bilateral agreements with any other nations that want such reciprocal travel arrangements.
“What we are doing right now is to assist citizens who enter the country, and most significantly dual national cardholders, so that they do not need to apply for visas since they would be cleared when they come in,” he continued.
Announcement
Due to the Ghana Card’s formal recognition as an ICAO-compliant travel document, the GIS had declared to the public on Monday, February 28, 2022, that it will start admitting Ghanaian passengers and dual nationals back to Ghana with a valid Ghana Card as of March 1, 2022.
It stated that although the Ghana Card would be an optional travel document, it could not be used to travel outside the ECOWAS sub-region unless bilateral agreements were signed with other nations.