Sector Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchway has cited the continued impact of the pandemic as reason for the delay in expediting the process of emergency travel certificates for the deportation of illegal Ghanaian migrants in the United States back home.
According to the Foreign Minister, prior to the pandemic, 125 deportees were evacuated from the US as part of arrangement that led to the lift of visa ban imposition on Ghana last year.
In answering a question in parliament on Wednesday July 23, she stated that currently, 22 people are going through the process of interview and are awaiting deportation as soon as travel ban are lifted.
“A total of five meeting sections were held between May and December 2019. Till the lifting of the sanctions on January 15, 2020”.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchway
The US government imposed visa restrictions on Ghana for what it said was the Akufo-Addo government’s failure to issue travel documents to over 7,000 Ghanaian citizens awaiting deportation from the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement last February, ordered the US Embassy in Ghana to discontinue issuing all non-immigrant visas (NIV) to some groups of Ghanaian applicants.
Limitations were also placed on the validity and the number of entries on new tourists and business visas for all Ghanaian Executive and Legislative branch employees, their spouses and their children under 21 years to a one-month single entry.
Since the imposition of the restrictions, some workers of public institutions who used to receive five-year visas now get up to three weeks maximum, with others having far less. However, subsequently the ban was lifted.
“During the period of sanction, 125 Ghanaians who had been ordered to be removed from the US were deported. Currently, interviews for persons cited for deportation are ongoing and agreed by the two sides”.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchway
“However, in the wake of Covid-19 the issuance of emergency travel certificates to facilitate their removal has been deferred until borders are reopened”.
The Foreign Minister emphatically stated her resolve to do due diligence in evacuating the remaining deportees in conjunction with the US Embassy.
“It is important to state that whenever there was a need for specific intervention on humanitarian ground, be it, health or family, it was done by engaging the relevant US authority”.
US visa application ban revoked
On Friday January 17, 2020, the US Embassy in Ghana reinstated visa application to Ghanaians. The restrictions included suspension of issuance of all new visas for domestic employees of Ghanaian Diplomats hosted in the US.
The Embassy also limited the normal five-year validity period and a number of entries on Tourist and Business visas for all Ghanaian Executive and Legislative branch employees, their spouses and children under age 21, to single-entry visas valid for only one month.
A statement issued by the US Embassy in Accra said visa processing will return to the normal procedures.
“The validity period and number of entries on new tourist and business visas (B1, B2, and B1/B2) for all Ghanaian executive and legislative branch employees, their spouses and their children under 21 will revert to receiving the normal validity, based on reciprocity, which is currently five years with multiple entries”.
