Guidelines for Passport Applicants

WARNING!!!
APPLICANTS, GUARANTORS AND WITNESSES ARE TO NOTE THAT THE MAKING OF A FALSE STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCURING A PASSPORT IS AN OFFENCE UNDER SECTION 15 OF THE PASSPORT AND TRAVEL CERTIFICATE DECREE (NLCD 155, 1967) OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA.

WHERE IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PROSECUTE SUCH PERSONS IN A CRIMINAL COURT BECAUSE THEY LIVE OUTSIDE GHANA, SUCH PERSONS SHALL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM HOLDING OR ACQUIRING A GHANA PASSPORT, AND ANY PASSPORT ALREADY ISSUED TO THEM SHALL BE WITHDRAWN AND CONFISCATED. THEY MAY ALSO BE ARRESTED AND DEALT WITH UNDER GHANA LAW ANYTIME THEY ATTEMPT TO ENTER GHANA.

WORKING HOURS: Passport application forms can be obtained from and must be presented to the Consular Section of the Embassy from Monday to Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.

PRESENTATION: All applications must be presented personally by the applicants. Applicants under 18 years of age may be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Please note that applicants will be interviewed. Consequently, applications for passports made through agents or through the post will not be accepted.

PROCESSING TIME: Applications for passports are processed in Ghana and submitted for onward delivery. Please allow at least one month for the processing of your passport application.

FORM OF PAYMENT: Payments should be made by Girocheque or Cash. Bank or Postbank transfers are not acceptable.

ELIGIBILITY: Under current law, applicants must be Ghanaian nationals, and evidence of Ghanaian citizenship will be required in the form of an expired passport, Ghanaian birth certificate etc. Applicants holding only Ghanaian birth certificates will be required to submit some other proof of identity such as school certificate, driver’s licence, employment/student/other ID card, or bachelor certificates to confirm that he or she is the person whose name and details appear on the birth certificate.

REQUIREMENTS:
1. An applicant for a new passport must duly complete a passport application form and return it with four passport size photos and other relevant documents, e.g. birth certificate, Expired/current passport, etc. All supporting documents must be submitted in original, not a photocopy. Such original documents will be returned to the applicants.

2. An application for a new passport or renewal (extension) may be submitted six months to the date of expiry. An application for a new passport may also be submitted when the pages of current passport are all endorsed with visas/stamps.

3. An application for a new passport to replace a missing passport/lost passport shall be accompanied by a police report and an affidavit setting out the circumstances of the loss of the original passport, in addition to the other usual requirements for the issue of a passport.

4. An application for an endorsement eg. change of name, profession, etc., shall be submitted on a duly completed endorsement form together with the relevant supporting documents/certificates.

CHILDREN:
An application for a new passport for a child born in Cuba or any of the countries of concurrent accreditation , or whose name is already inserted in the passport of his/her parents must be supported by a birth certificate and the passport in which his/her name is inserted.

SPECIAL NOTICE TO APPLICANTS WITHOUT PASSPORTS
Please note that there is no procedure for applicants who were born in Ghana and claim to have travelled outside Ghana without their Ghana passports. The normal process would be for such applicants to return to Ghana to apply for Ghanaian passports from the Director of Passports, Accra. It is also against the laws of both Ghana , Cuba and the countries of concurrent accreditation to travel to any of these countries on another person’s Ghanaian

ILLEGAL/PROXY PASSPORTS
It is not permitted by law for Ghanaians resident outside Ghana to instruct friends and relatives to acquire Ghana passports in Ghana on their behalf and either secretly carry the passports to them in Cuba or any of the countries of concurrent accreditation or send it to them by post. Such passports are proxy or illegal passports, and will be seized by any Cuban or any of the countries of concurrent accreditation official authority to whom it is presented and sent either personally or by post to this Embassy. Any proxy passport that comes into the possession of this Embassy shall immediately be confiscated and a replacement passport will only be issued to the bearer after exhaustive investigations and with the approval of the Director of Passports in Accra.

COLLECTION OF ISSUED PASSPORTS
Newly issued passports should be collected personally by the applicants. The applicant will be required to fill in and sign the appropriate column of the passport collection book, and also append his or her signature in the passport in the presence of the Head of the Consular Section before the passport will be released to him/her.