Immigration officers are undergoing training for the use of card readable machines used to authenticate e-passports that have been installed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
The training, according to AviationGhana sources at the airport, is expected to be completed by the end of February for the roll-out of the Ghana Card e-Passport programme.
For now, the Ghana Card e-Passport will be accepted for boarding of flights into Ghana only, subject to the rules and regulations by immigration officers in the 197 eligible ICAO-member countries.
The use of the Ghana Card as the sole document for travelling abroad is not possible until Ghana completes the next stage of the ICAO integration that makes it possible to issue visas on the card by the relevant embassies and consulates in-country.
For dual citizens and resident foreigners who have the card, border control officers at Kotoka International Airport confirmed that the Ghana card will act as their visa and facilitate their admittance into Ghana.
“They will need to add their Ghana Card to their other passport to be processed and admitted into Ghana. They will not need to apply and secure visas before coming,” the source confirmed.
The expected rollout of the e-passport follows the importation of Ghana’s country signing certificate authority into the PKF system through what is known as a ‘key ceremony’ held at the Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal in Canada on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
Ghana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Ransford Sowah, received the ‘key’ to symbolically indicate the Ghana’s entry into ICAO’s public key directorate.
The ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) is a central repository for exchanging the information required to authenticate e-passports.
