Solution to eliminate visa challenge at embassies outdoored
Ghana Card not e-passport, Ayorkor Botchway
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that government has obtained International Civil Aviation Organization (IACO) certification for the Ghana Card to be used as a travel document from abroad without the need for a visa.
According to him, Ghanaians living in the diaspora have over the years been challenged with the acquisition of visas from Ghanaian embassies abroad to the extent that many lost their passports in the process of applying for visas.
To curb this menace, the Ghana Card will be used as a travel document, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia reiterated.
He made this known at the launch of Accra Business IT programme held in Accra on Thursday, July 14, 2022.
He said, “Ghanaians in the diaspora were bearing the problem and cost of the acquisition of visa by diaspora Ghanaians, many have lost passports in the process of applying for visas from Ghanaian embassies abroad. But we have obtained ICAO certification for the Ghana Card to be used as a travel document for travel to Ghana from abroad without the need for a visa."
It would be recalled that on February 10, 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) gave its seal of approval for Ghana Card to be recognized globally as a valid e-passport
Holders of the Ghana Card as well as its future biometric equivalents can present it as official documentation at all 197 (ICAO) compliant countries and 44,000 airports worldwide and board flights to Ghana.
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said although the Ghana Card bears the technical features of an e-passport, there is still a long way to go for it to be recognised as such.
She explained that, by contrast, the Ghana Card, as defined in section 19 of the National Identification Authority Act, 2006 (Act 707) is "an identity card with a personal identification number issued by the Authority for purposes of identification of a person to whom the card is issued.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in active discussion with ECOWAS member States and their bilateral partners to achieve the card being used as a travel document.
ESA/FNOQ
Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia