Ghana Card ready for ICAO’s E-Visa – Office of the Vice President
Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff at the Office of the Vice President, Augustine Blay, has said the National Identification Card, Ghana Card, is ready for the implementation of the yet to be published Electronic Visa (E-Visa) protocols by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
According to Mr Blay, the Ghana Card with regards to ICAO’s travel regulations, has met both International and global standards and is ready for the deployment of the organisation’s E-Visa.
“Visa today is a physical stamp or sticker, in the near future and based on ICAO standards they will now issue protocols for E-Visa.
“They have already issued the e-passport which is a chip which you put in the card which then becomes an e-passport and the Ghana Card has met the requirements to be an e-passport because of the chip in the card.
“Now, they will soon issue protocols for the E-Visa and countries can then put the E-Visa in the chip. Ghana has the chip and so basically Ghana is ready and waiting for ICAO to publish the protocols and integrate E-Visa into the Ghana Card,” he explained.
Speaking on whether the Ghana Card is now accepted as a travel document and can be used to travel to any country across the world, Mr Blay averred the Ghana Card can only be accepted by countries with bilateral and multilateral travel agreements with Ghana.
Adding that, on the back of the Ghana Airports Company Limited’s (GACL) communique to all airports and airlines around the world, Ghanaians in the other countries can now travel into Ghana with just the Ghana Card.
Speaking further in an interview on Joy News monitored by NorvanReports, Mr Blay noted the National Identification Authority (NIA) will soon issue a communique announcing arrangements for Ghanaians abroad to register for the Ghana Card.
