VISA ON ARRIVAL AS GHANA CHANGES RULES FOR AFRICANS
(Posted 19th March 2016)
Ghana has followed Rwanda’s example and announced a few days ago, that citizens of African Union member states will now be able to obtain visitor passes on arrival without having to go through the trouble of applying for Visa in advance.
Rwanda successfully implemented their change, without any known additional risks vis a vis border and internal security and Ghana, keen to tap into the continent’s tourism potential, seems to have taken a leaf from this experience.
Only the Seychelles, also a member country of the African Union, has gone the full nine yards however and does not require ANY Visa from any nationality, granting visitor passes on arrival. While the Seychelles immigration department insists on a return ticket and a confirmed hotel booking, besides yellow fever inoculation certificates for travelers coming from the African mainland, is admission to the archipelago otherwise unproblematic.
Ghana’s new Visa rules will in particular benefit African travelers, a big bonus on our continent which still often makes travel for Africans more difficult and bureaucratic than for visitors from Europe, America, the Gulf and Asia.
Kudos for Ghana and barbs for those African countries which still demand long Visa application processes in advance at often extortionate fees.
