GhanaCard gives Ghana advantage in the implementation of e-visa - Yaw Blay
GhanaCard to be used as e-passport for Ghanaian’s travelling to Ghana – GACL
Executive secretary to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Augustine Yaw Blay has said Ghana’s National Identification Card (GhanaCard) meets all the requirements for an electronic passport (e-passport).
The executive secretary said every e-passport has a small chip in it that contains the information of the holder and the GhanaCard is the only identity document in the country that has this chip.
“Every e-passport has a small chip that contains the information and the GhanaCard now has that chip, our passport today does not have a chip it, the chip that qualifies an e-passport is in the GhanaCard and not Ghana’s current passport,” he said in an interview on Joy New’s The Probe monitored by GhanaWeb.
According to Yaw Blay, the GhanaCard puts Ghana in a prime position to be a leader as the world moves towards the implementation of electronic visas (e-visa).
Meanwhile, the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) has announced to all airlines in the world through the International Air Transport Association (IATA), that the Ghana Card, will from March 1, 2022, be recognised as an international travelling identity document, otherwise called e-passport for all Ghanaian holders travelling to Ghana.
The GACL, following February 10, 2022, Key Ceremony at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada to officially recognise the Ghana Card as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), the GCAA, in an official notice to international airlines and airports, has confirmed that Ghanaians can start using their Ghanacard from March 1, to travel to Ghana from other countries.
This directive also means that Ghanaians in the diaspora, who hitherto, needed a Ghanaian passport to travel back home, will now be able to use their Ghana Cards to travel back to Ghana.
Executive secretary to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Augustine Yaw Blay