Effective March 1, 2022, allow holders of valid Ghanacard to board flights to Ghana without restriction, Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) tells all airlines and airports.
According to the company, this follows a decision taken at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada.
“Following a “Key Ceremony at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada on 9th February, 2022. Ghana National Identity card (Ghana Card) is now duly recognized globally as a valid ID card-passport a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) that can be read and verified by the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) at most airports.
“Ghana Airports Company Limited announces to all airports and airlines that holders of a valid Ghana Card should be allowed to board flights to Ghana without the need for a visa.
“This takes effect from March 1, 2022”, GACL announced in a statement issued Saturday February 12, 2022.
The ICAO had tweeted that it is not their role to certify the use of a State’s Identity Card for international travel in place of a passport.
It indicated rather, it is the sovereign right of each individual State to decide upon its entry and exit requirements and the documents that need to be presented by those travelling to and/or from its territory.
This statement has, however, been misconstrued by a section of the populace as some have concluded that the GhanaCard cannot be used for travelling purposes as it has been made to believe.
However, in a post to respond to the trends, Dr Gideon Boako, Aide to the Vice President insisted that Wednesday’s ceremony at Montreal, Canada, to have the Ghana Card, captured in the ICAO’s Public Key Directory (PKD) was the final step to accept the card as a travelling document.
He said the Ghana Card has gone through all the procedures and has the certification that any holder of the Card can board a flight anywhere in the world into the country, just as with the normal passport without the need for a visa.
Read his full writeup:
Ignore the wrong interpretation of ICAO’s statement, Ghanacard is valid for travel as e-passport
Just like our current normal booklet passport you will need ICAO to approve and capture the data into their Public Key Directory (PKD) for certification before any country can accept it as official travel documents. Such key ceremony certification as was done on 9th February in the case of the Ghanacard is the ultimate step to take before any national identity card/passport can be used for travelling purposes.
Ghana has crossed this stage with respect to the Ghanacard making it officially certified as having the right qualities to be admissible by receiving countries as e-passport subject to country-to-country bilateral agreements. Through the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), official communication has gone to all border ports that Ghana as a receiving country is accepting holders of the Ghanacard into Ghana.
The statement by ICAO that Ghana has crossed the major millstone in efforts to provide for more international acceptance of its biometric electronic travel documents is therefore not inconsistent with official communication from government.
In practical terms, the holder of a Ghanacard will be allowed to board a flight to Ghana (receiving country) from any airport, just as with the normal biometric passport, without the need for a visa.
Also, Diasporan Ghanaians who hold the Ghanacard will not require a visa to travel to Ghana.
Within ECOWAS the Ghanacard can be used to travel to any country. Traveling outside ECOWAS however, will require that you use your normal biometric passport which will contain your visas.
In the not too distant future, we expect that electronic visas will be issued under ICAO 2.0 protocols. When this starts, electronic visas could be issued on the Ghanacard under bilateral arrangements with other countries.
By Vincent Kubi