GHANA TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS 2023 | Visa Application Process | DETAILED!

Hey, what's up, everybody? My name is T-RON, that's T-E-A-R-O-N, period. And I am the host of the Ubiquitous Blacks podcast. And I'm also the person trying my best to grow this channel. If this is your first time here, please go ahead and hit that subscribe and notification button and we won't waste any more time. I'm going to get right into why we are here. So if you saw the title of the video, you know that you are either interested in traveling to Ghana or you have a few questions about this visa process, and I am here to help you with that. OK. So I'm going to go through the process with you. Give you some step by step information. If you have any questions, feel free to ask those in the comments. And I'll do my best to answer these for you. I know that when I traveled to Ghana, the visa application process was it could be simpler. Let me put it that way. So I want to use the experience that I had to also allow you to have a much smoother process. And yeah, let's get right into it. I'm going to take you over on over to the website for the visa application process, and we'll go from there. All right. So we're not going to waste too much time. We're going to go straight through the whole process here. We're going to do it step by step. If I go a little fast, it's because we're just answering questions that could be confusing. And you can pause the video if you want to do it step by step with me. Or if you have any questions about anything in the process, feel free to leave a comment. And I'll definitely do my best to answer those questions to the best of my ability. That being said, let's go ahead and get into it. So you want to start out on the Ghana embassy website. That's Ghana embassy, D.C. dot org forward slash visa, which will take you to this landing page that gives you all the information for the visa application process. These bullet points here are the things you want to make sure you take note of. All applicants must pay for the return postage visa service online, which there's a link to do that. Payment for return postage is made online using debit or credit card. There's no cash transactions as an option here. Applicants details must be used even if payment is being made by a third party. So if you have a sponsor or someone is paying for your application, that's perfectly fine. But your information is what needs to be in the details of that application. Self-addressed prepaid return envelopes are not accepted. This has to be processed through the postal service. So it's not something that you can just go and get a stamp and do yourself. You have to do it through the website, which the link is here and through the postal service. Applicants are strongly advised to secure a visa before purchasing a plane ticket. This here spoke directly to my spirit. OK, I don't know about y'all, but most of these flights to Ghana are well over a thousand dollars. I don't have time to be losing money. All right. That's that's just me. And you want to make sure that you get approved for a visa for the country that you're going to before purchasing that plane ticket. That should go without saying. Unless you got it like that, you know, more power to you. The use of prepaid FedEx return envelopes is no longer accepted by the embassy. This is new. This is new from the last time that I did it. When I did the process, I did use FedEx because I like their their website and the way that they, you know, track information. I'm more familiar with it. But going forward, it looks like you will use the United States Postal Service for that all incomplete or missing documents will be returned to applicants at their own expense. Only include things that are expected of you for the visa application because you already have to pay for your passport and things to be sent back to you. You do not want to have to do this particular process repeatedly or send something and then not get your info. You get the point. Just make sure everything is as it should be and print online payment receipt and add to your application before mailing. Anything you pay for printed out, make a copy of it and include it in the envelope. So that's going to be your return postage. You want to print that receipt out. You want to print out the receipt for your visa application itself. Anything that is included, you want to make sure that you have it. All right. Moving on for the service type and visa type. So there's two options here for expedited service and regular service. I myself chose expedite, which is seven business days, regular services, 15 to 20 business days. The reason I chose seven business days is because my anxiety will not let me wait 15 to 20 business days. OK, and this is keep in mind once the application is received by the embassy, how long it will take to process. So that's seven business days turns into more like 11 before you get that visa approval in the mail. So keep that in mind. But they also the other difference is the fees associated. So there are two types of visas. There's a single entry visa and a multiple entry visa. I encourage you strongly to do the multiple entry visa. The reason being is because you don't want to have to do this process again. It's already expensive process. And if you decide that you are going to visit Ghana and you may want to return, right, so keep your options open and go ahead and just pay the the fees associated, because you can see here if you pay an expedited service on a single entry visa, this means visiting Ghana and being approved to enter one time. It's $100. You may as well pay that same $100 and get a multiple entry visa. And then you're able to go and visit Ghana again, if you'd like, for up to five years. OK. I myself, I did multiple entry visa and I did the expedited service. So I paid that $200 fee. It's a bit more expensive. But again, save me a lot of headache. All right. It says, please read the entitlements to a Ghanaian visa carefully. All this information here, we won't go too far into it, but definitely read through each of these bullet points and go. You know, if there's anything specific that applies to you, definitely make sure that you have, you know what you need. OK. Let's see when you're mailing things off. You want to make sure that everything is done through this website that we're on, which is, again, is GhanaEmbassyDC.org. All right. After completing the visa application, you want to download and print the application. So you want to have the file downloaded to your system and you want to go and print that out. I myself, I also did all my printing at FedEx, too. I don't have a printer. I don't really print things very often. So when I did my process, I printed out everything that I needed on. I just stuck it on a USB drive, took it to FedEx, printed everything out there and sent off my envelope in the same location. Embassy of Ghana, when you're doing the address, you want to include in parentheses how you are paying. So if you chose the expedited visa process, you want to make sure that you list on the application on the envelope, I'm sorry, expedited. If you just chose the regular service, you want to make sure that you include regular on that address information. Refund policy. Straight up, there's no refunds. Whether you're approved or not, there are no refunds. So that's all the more reason you want to make sure that you read through everything and follow each step. If you have any questions, again, you can ask me in the comments or just, you know, look for further information about the process. OK, the processing period, which we already went over 15 to 20 days for regular seven days were expedited. All right. And then there's exempted countries. If if you're this is this is not going to apply to you in the U.S. OK, if you're in the United States, you have to have a visa approval before entering Ghana. However, there are some countries that do not need this process. OK, it's moving on. Quotas of diplomatic service or official passports. Again, we're not doing that. And then a gratis visa. We're not doing that. All right. So that's everything. So this gives you the rundown. That's why I always want you to start on this page and keep that tab open and then go through it. So next, we're going to go up. We're going to click on visas and passports. And then you'll see a page that says consular services. We're going to click on visa application, which will come on to the passport and visa application page. We're going to click on visa application again. And this is where we get into it. Again, it gives you the steps for the application process. Step one through four. Just letting you know what to expect as you're going through this. But I'm going to do it with you step by step. So the visa application pre-qualification instructions. How do you want it to be presented? We're doing English. And then the country of residence. For me, I'm choosing the United States. We're going to hit continue. You're going to see this notice. OK, this notice just is specifically saying that your application will be refused if you do not include all the mandatory documents and files as stated on the checklist. OK, make sure everything that is required on that checklist that applies to you, you include in your application. Otherwise, you're out of money. I want to continue. All right, here we go. It gives us this is basically what we saw on that landing page that we just went over. And then you get more details here through the drop down boxes. OK. We're not going to do that together, but I encourage you. Definitely read through each of these all the way. All right. And the one thing I do want to point out here is photographs. All right. The basically you want to include a standard passport size photo. What I did, what I found to be the easiest method to save yourself the headache, I went down to my local Walgreens. And there is when you go to the photo area in Walgreens, they will take your picture and then they will process the picture for you, which is already going to be in the size that it should be. But also the software that they use is going to be specific to the biometrics requirements for passport and visa applications. Don't don't stress yourself. Go to your local Walgreens, CVS or local, you know, store in your area. And that's going to be a way that you can do this. You can also get this taken. A passport photo taken at the postal office. But I think just going to a local Walgreens, CVS or pharmacy that has photo services would be easier. They usually do this stuff all day long and they will get you in and get you out. And it doesn't cost that much. OK, I think mine was maybe like like 15, 20 bucks. And they gave me two passport photos. They also give you a little holder with the photos, which I just dropped right in my envelope and sent it off. OK, so we'll do that. Once you have read through each of those things, you're going to check that box there and let them know that you have read and you understand. We're going to proceed with the visa application. Then you're going to see the types of visa applications that you want. In my case, I'm showing you my example. I did an individual visa application. These other ones are very specific. Most times you're going to be doing an individual application anyhow. All right. And so we're just going to do this together. So there's five steps here. We're going to go through all of them. The purpose of travel. I am traveling for tourism. Now, your your reason could be different. You could be visiting family or a student or something, but choose what's specific to you. Of course, I was just doing tourist activities. So a tourism visa is what I applied for. For the passport type, we're doing ordinary, just a standard passport. But let's see application details. Country of residence is United States. Your nationality. Mine is going to be American. Nationality at birth is also American. Visa type. Again, multiple entry visa is what we want, because we don't want to do this process again. And if we get approved, we want to go back to Ghana. We can just get a ticket and go. That's it. Processing office, Washington, D.C. Visa service again depends on what you want to pay. I chose expedited. So that's what I want to put there and select mode of submission. Mode of submission is going to be postal services. All right. It's only one option there. All right. Travel details. Purpose of travel. You want to put temporary visitor or tourism? Yes. Duration of stay. How long do you plan on being in Ghana? I myself, I was there for a month, so we'll do four weeks. I and then the date of departure from the country of residence. Even if you do not have a ticket, you want to do this part. So you'll see that it shows here. You want to choose the date. So we'll say January 1st of 2023. OK. And then I'll say, how are you traveling by air, land or sea? We're doing a plane. And it's going to ask here. Number 32, do you have a return ticket? No. I'm not even approved for my visa yet. I don't have a return ticket yet, which is fine. Just leave it. Leave it as no. Which is already pre filled. And it's going to ask date of last visit to to Ghana. This is when you were most recently in Ghana. If you've never been, then don't put anything. Just leave it blank. It's not a required field. But yeah, if you have been to Ghana there, you just put the information in for when you last were there and in financial mode. Financial mode is how you plan on supporting yourself while you're in Ghana. Are you bringing cash, card or cash and card? Most people have cash and card. I would definitely recommend both, especially if you have a credit card that has like, you know, no international fees on it. I would encourage using something like that. But also, of course, when you you want to bring a bit of cash, because when you get there, you will exchange it for local currency. Financial means that disposal. I just put in a thousand dollars. I wasn't traveling with much, but you put in what you want. A thousand dollars is more than enough to do what you want to do in Ghana. All right. Just have you have your card to back you up. But for your financial means at disposal, you just want to put it in. So I just put a thousand dollars, which is fine. So we'll go to the next thing. All right, here goes another prompt. Wrong details may delay your application. OK, we'll say, OK. All right. So after you have done that, the next page you come to for step two, you will get a reference number. This here. Write this down. Take a picture of it. Save it on your phone somewhere because you'll need this to check on your application if you want to sign back into it or you need to finish it later. Whatever. This is what you want to have on there. OK, save your reference number before you do anything else. I and then we'll do the passport number. I'm just going to make up something here. Place of issue. I'm going to say United States date of issue. This is all generic stuff I'm putting in here. So we'll say January 1st. I don't know. And then when it expires, blah, blah, blah. Travel history. All right. So you want to answer these questions. Make sure you answer everything truthfully. Have you ever been to visit a Ghana before? At the time, I had not. So I said no. Have you ever been refused a visa? Have you ever been refused entry into Ghana? Have you ever been deported to or from Ghana? Do you have a criminal record in Ghana? Do you suffer from any mental disorder? Do you suffer from any communicable disease? All right. So Mark Johnson, you want to put in your contact information here. So now you're going to put in your address. So Mark Johnson lives on one Main Street. He lives in Johnson in the United States. He also lives in Johnson County, because why not? Right. And his postal code is five. Five, five, five, five, five, five, five. And then we'll enter. His phone number is in this case, we want to enter the mobile number. So five, five, five, five, five, five. Wait, wait. And his email. Want to enter Mark Johnson at Mail dot com. Almost entered my own email. I of course, you want to make sure that it's a mobile phone so that you can receive text and so on. Your mailing address is different than your contact address. Then, of course, you put separate. We're just going to keep it the same. If you're not employed, if it doesn't apply to you, then it doesn't matter. If you're not traveling for work or business, this really is not something you need to do. So you can just check that. However, if you are or you want to put in your work information for the business you work at, then you can. I'm going to say no. And then name and physical address. OK, here's where we get into a bit more detail. What I recommend in this part is if you if you're just visiting family, you're going to be having a place, then that's fine. But I just put here, excuse me, where I was staying, the majority. OK, so this is where I could be found at majority where I was at. And then I also put the second place that I stayed. That's what I did. OK. So name of reference, this you could just put on here the name of the hotel or the Airbnb where you're staying. So let's just say Embassy Gardens. I don't know the street address anymore. So, you know, we're going to do five, five, five, five. I want to say it's like circular road or something. It doesn't matter. You know, for your locality, I cry. And then GPS, our digital address, this this would be the address that is like that you can find on Google. So if you go and you put in the location, just copy the address and put it here. In this case, we're doing five, five, five, five circular road. The telephone number. This is going to be the main number for where you are staying. If they have if they have a direct number, so if it's Airbnb, you'll get like a number for, you know, that person or whichever. Or you just put the number for the hotel. In this case, you know, we're putting fives in there. Oh, wait, I went all the way back up. Pardon me. So we're going to go back to here. We're going to enter fives. You put in also, if you have like the email address of them, it's not required, but it doesn't hurt to have it. So you put that in. And then the same thing for if you're staying any other place, if you're not staying in another place, just put in the same information twice. It's fine. And then name of address or employee in Ghana. We're not traveling for work, so we're going to put not applicable. Next host in Ghana. OK, the host. This is going to be where you are staying. This is your hotel information again. OK. If you are staying with a family member or a friend, of course, you can enter this information more clearly. I simply entered the hotel again because I'm my own host. Nobody's paying for me to travel. Nobody's paying for my application process. I'm doing everything myself. So I just put that in again. My hotel information, where I was at, primarily where I was going to be. Cry host country. Ghana, of course. And in the address again, a lot of this is repetitive, but this is what you want. And then the the phone number again. So we're putting mobile number with the same thing. Unless they get unless the host of like an Airbnb gives you specific details or a number, then just put that. If you're staying in a hotel, a lot of times you can get the contact information from the website. So I'm just going to say. So you'll put in, you know, information that's specific to you. Sponsor of trip. This is if someone is paying for your trip. OK. If this is not the case, put in your own information. So it says here ticket sponsor is the same as applicant. You just check this. It's going to find all your information. You are your own sponsor. OK. If is this application being completed by another person other than yourself? If you have a disability or, you know, maybe you're visually impaired, someone's helping you with it, then they can put that information in. In this case, we'll say no. And then we get to our checklist. OK, the checklist here. This is where we this is what you want to make sure that you include every everything that has a red mark next to it. Include all of that information. Please, please, please. OK. So recent passport size photograph taken within six months of the date of application. So, again, I went to Walgreens. They it was like maybe 20 bucks. They took two passport size photos. You stand against a white background. They take the picture for you, print it out. You get it in like 10 minutes. And then I just put those photos in the envelope. It says in here, just include one passport size photo. They gave me two. I didn't need them for anything else. I just put both of them in the envelope with the little holder and the holder that they give you also kind of gives you like a receipt of the date when it was when the picture was taken. So you have everything you need right when you do that. So I went to Walgreens and did it. You can go to like CVS and stuff like that as well and get that done. Appropriate fees, that's your return postage fee, your application fees that are going to be paid and so on. Valid, fully vaccinated COVID-19 certificate. They are no longer testing you in the airport in Ghana. However, you want to make sure that you are vaccinated for COVID-19 and you want to include that. I had a vaccination card that I included in the envelope with my application and all the other documents. When I got my passport back, they had stapled the. What was I saying? They had stapled my vaccination card inside my passport so that they returned that to me as well within the passport. So I just kept it in that still in there now. And that's been months ago. Valid Ghana identification of host. If you have a host friend, family that's that is hosting you, you want to make sure they send you a photocopy, not not printed out. You can have them send you a picture of their Ghana card. Anybody that's living in Ghana will know what the Ghana card is. But if you have a hotel booking or Airbnb stay, you could just use that. This is your confirmation that you get from the hotel. Once you book the hotel or the Airbnb, then you will get a confirmation page. I just printed out that confirmation email and included in my information here. The while you don't have to go ahead and get a plane ticket for traveling to Ghana before you do your application, you do want to book where you are staying. You definitely want to know. And the embassy wants to know that you will be able to have somewhere to stay for the duration that you plan on being in Ghana. OK. So definitely book your Airbnb or hotel. Your lodging accommodations have all that stuff confirmed before you do this. Your travel itinerary. This is going to be your flight and also your hotel stay. Again, you do not yet have a flight booked. So in this case, you're just going to include your hotel accommodations. I stayed in two or three different places. So I included each of those confirmations in my envelope is your invitation letter or confirmed hotel booking invitation letter. That's, you know, someone that's inviting you to come and stay or visit or your hotel booking. Again, all your confirmations for hotel. Just go into your email, print out that page with the confirmation. And that's good enough. Valid passport. You want to include your passport. You will be shipping off your passport to the embassy, your physical passport. So when you go in to do your shipping fees, make sure that you pay the extra fee for tracking so that you can, you know, keep up with your passport. Nowhere is at all times because you will, of course, be sending the physical passport off so you will be without it. While that application is being processed, this is not being sent to Ghana. This is just being sent to the embassy in Washington, D.C. And then, of course, once that is done, they will send that back to you. Passport data page. When you go, you want to print a colored copy. I did two of them of the front page of your passport. Your bio data page is the page that has your picture and your information. And in the application form signed by the applicant, you're going to print out everything at the end here. You want to make sure that you sign the application. OK. And then the resident permit, that's if it's applicable to you. If you're a resident, you hit next. Let's see. Oh, wait, I'm missing something. Oh, phone number. Let me put this in real quick. All right. So I got that in there. We're going to say next. All right. So now declaration of applicant. This means that you have read through everything. You know what you're looking for. You know what what to expect. You're going to check that box and you put in any notes here that you may need specific. But just make sure before you submit, you have gone back through and just checked everything twice. OK. So you have read and understood the questions in the application. Yes. And then you'll see the fee here at the end. This is the two hundred dollar fee. Remember, we chose expedited and we also chose multiple entry. So we're paying that extra fee payment option. Online payment via website. And that's that now uploading documents. I'm going to click on this here. This there's a video here that tells you how to upload the documents. Everything that you need for traveling to Ghana. You want to make sure that you upload it and then you, you know, send it through. Now, when you do this here, just follow the video. Make sure that you have everything. This same information you also will be sending in physically. So it seems redundant. But you're going to send in your physical copy. So your recent passport photograph, that's what you have taken at the Walgreens. Right. Or the CVS. So you have that. What I say, what I would say is take a photo of that picture and then, you know, crop it in, upload it to the site. All right. So so you have all that and then you want to upload your documents. The same documents that you are sending in. You also want to upload those digital files to match it. There's a video here for, you know, how to go about doing the process, which kind of gives you some details. But just make sure that you meet all the requirements listed specifically. So, yeah, so I will be bringing you more content from my recent trip to Ghana and also more tips and information. If you have any ideas or any suggestions or anything that you may want to see, then definitely include that in the comments and we'll make it happen. I appreciate you for hanging on and riding that wave with me. And I wish you the best on your journey to Africa and visiting Ghana for the first time. All right. Peace.