….Application moving from GH¢100 to GH¢644
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has submitted a proposal to Parliament for the revision of the current fees for passport applications, seeking to increase them from GH¢100 to GH¢644.
The Ministry, responsible for issuing travel documents through Passport Offices nationwide, argues that the existing application fees are insufficient to meet the expenses associated with procuring, processing, and issuing the travel document.
The updated fees will also mark Ghana’s shift from the current biometric to chip-embedded passports, scheduled for implementation by April, next year. This transition has been under consideration since the John Mahama administration, with the then Foreign Minister, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, spearheading discussions and overseeing the contract signing with a Hungarian company and their Ghanaian counterparts.
Recently, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, revealed timelines, emphasizing that the planned transition from the current biometric to chip-embedded passports is a crucial requirement set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN agency overseeing civil aviation.
The ministry’s proposal which represents a 544% hike is presently before the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation of Parliament, for consideration. Currently, ordinary Passport applicants pay GHC 100 (US$8) for regular service and GHC 150 ($13) for expedited service respectively.
Speaking on the floor of parliament on December 14, 2023, the sector minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said the development will ensure the ministry can avoid incurring losses in the printing of passport booklets for citizens.
Ms Botchwey said, “Ghanaians pay just about GH¢100 for a passport yet to produce one passport booklet it costs GH¢400 which means that for every passport that an applicant acquires, the government has to put in GH¢300 and this is not sustainable.”
“So, if you are going to travel or you intend to travel and you cannot pay GH¢400 then it is unfortunate because even tickets are now expensive.” the minister added.
She alluded that the review is due to financial constraints in the Ghanaian economy, which has forced the ministry to take these measures since the State can no longer continue to subsidize the cost of printing passports
In October this year, Ms Botchwey, signaled that Ghana has just seven months to make the transition from the current biometric to chip-embedded passports, saying it is being issued by most sovereign states because of its high-security features.
She made these known during an unannounced working visit to the Greater Accra Passport Application Centre (PAC) near Tema Station, Accra and the Passport Head Office, Ridge. “It is good (biometric), but it has its limitations.
The chip-embedded passport has more security features and therefore, it will reduce the ‘non-Ghanaians,’ so to speak, who are able to get our passports and it will be linked directly to the national identification (the system which is being compiled),” Ayorkor Botchwey said.
She said the contract had been awarded to a wholly Ghanaian-owned company which would commence within the timelines set.
Her deputy, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, who also spoke about the new passport fees explained that is to help recover costs and be at par with West African countries including Liberia.
“Our passport happens to be the cheapest in the whole West African Sub-region. Ghana passport costs 8 dollars, the next cheapest is Liberia [which charges] 40 dollars. The supplier of the Liberian and Ghanaian passport booklet is the same company. So our passport is heavily subsidized,” he said.
He added: “The money that we are supposed to use to buy the computers and the printers to be able to provide quick service delivery is being used to subsidize the passport that people apply for.”
The government hopes to introduce the chip-embedded passports in the second quarter of 2024, and gradually phase out the current biometric passport.
The chip-embedded passports are to be linked to national identification. The biometric information on the chip can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, who revealed the timelines explained that the planned shift from the current biometric to chip-embedded passports is a key requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN agency in charge of civil aviation.
“We are at the moment using biometrics but we want to upgrade to chip-embedded. Moving from the biometric to the chip-embedded is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. It is asking all countries who are on biometric to upgrade to the chip-embedded passport,” Ampratwum-Sarpong said.
Security-wise, he indicated that the chip-embedded passport will make it nearly impossible for non-Ghanaian and fraudsters to acquire the document.
“Since a passport is a serious security document that needs not be tampered with or abused, moving from biometric to chip embedded is for our security and to also make life easier and better for all of us. We are modernized, we are moving digitalization.
Chip-embedded is an upgrade on digitalization so we have to get there and be one of the leading lights,” He added.
