Ghanaian passports are issued exclusively by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to Ghanaians granted citizenship in accordance with the

Ghanaian nationality law Ghanaian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Ghana, as amended; the Ghana Citizenship Act, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible ...

. There are three types of passport booklets contemporary (regular), service, and diplomatic passports. Ghanaian passport booklets are valid for travel by Ghanaians anywhere in the world, although the holder may need to obtain a

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

from the destination country when travelling for some purposes. More than one valid Ghanaian passport of the same type may not be held.

Types

There are three types of Ghanaian passports: * Contemporary Issuable to all citizens and non-citizen nationals and valid for ten years from the date of issue. * Service Issuable to officials attached to government institutions who travel on official business. * Diplomatic Issuable to Ghanaian diplomats accredited overseas and their eligible dependents.

Format

Physical

Paper size Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents. The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. I ...

B7 ( ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3, ) * 32 pages (passports with more pages can be issued to frequent travelers)

Cover

Contemporary passports are

hunter green Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation or intensity) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint b ...

in color, service passports are

cadet grey Cadet grey (sometimes spelled ''cadet gray'' in parts of the United States) is a somewhat blue-greyish shade of the color grey. The first recorded use of ''cadet grey'' as a color name in English was in 1912. Before 1912, the word ''cadet grey'' ...

, and diplomatic passports are auburn. At the top is printed "ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)" followed by "COMMUNAUTE ECONOMIQUE DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST (CEDEAO)". The words "REPUBLIC OF GHANA" follow. The CEDEAO/

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

emblem appears next. At the bottom are the words "PASSPORT" and "PASSEPORT", "SERVICE PASSPORT" and "PASSEPORT DE SERVICE", or "DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT" and "PASSEPORT DIPLOMATIQUE", depending on the type of passport (contemporary, service, or diplomatic, respectively).

Identification page

The following information about the owner is printed on the identification page in both English and French: * Type * Code of issuing state * Passport number * Surname * Given name(s) * Nationality * Date of birth * Residence * Sex * Place of birth * Place of issue * Date of issue * Date of expiry

Photographs

The standards for the photograph are: * * Front view, full face, open eyes, closed mouth, and natural expression * Full head from top of hair to shoulders * Plain background * No shadows on face or in background * No sunglasses; no hat * Normal contrast and lighting but must not be blurred

Message

Passports of many countries contain a message, nominally from the official who is in charge of passport issuance (e.g., secretary of state, minister of foreign affairs), addressed to authorities of other countries. The message identifies the bearer as a citizen of the issuing country, requests that he or she be allowed to enter and pass through the other country, and requests further that, when necessary, he or she be given help consistent with international norms. In Ghanaian passports, the message is in English and reads: ,.,.

Fees

, the fee for a new passport with regular (15-day) delivery time was

GH₵ The cedi ( ) (currency sign: GH₵; currency code: GHS) is the unit of currency of Ghana. It is the fourth historical and only current legal tender in the Republic of Ghana. One cedi is divided into one hundred pesewas (Gp). After indepen ...

450.00 (US$45.20 in February 2018) Three-day express service is available for

450.00 additional. , the application fee for regular 32 page passport booklet is

320 and

550 for regular 48 page passport booklet. The application fee for expedited 32 page passport booklet is

350 and

300 for expedited 48 page passport booklet. RECENT File:Ghana Biometric Passport.jpg, Contemporary passport (

) File:Ghana Biometric Service Passport.jpg, Service passport (

) File:Ghana Biometric Diplomatic Passport.jpg, Diplomatic passport ( auburn) File:Ghana passport 1970.jpg, Ghanaian passport 1970 File:Ghana Duel Citizenship Identity Card.jpg, Multiple citizenship Ghanaian identity document ( jade)

Recent developments

To conform to the recommended standards (i.e., size, composition, layout, technology) set by the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

(ICAO), Ghana has issued

biometric passport A biometric passport (also known as an e-passport or a digital passport) is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the pa ...

s as standard since March 2010, though existing non-biometric passports were valid until November 2015. To facilitate the application for and acquisition of Ghanaian passports, Passport Application Centers (PACs) have been set up around the major cities of Ghana, including Accra,

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tam ...

, Ho,

Sekondi-Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city and an indu ...

, and in

Sunyani Sunyani is a city and the capital town of the Bono Region and the Sunyani Municipal of Ghana. Sunyani had a population of 74,24at the 2010 population and housing census. The city consists mainly of the Bonos by tribe. History Sunyani is surr ...

. 22 Diplomatic Missions outside Ghana have the mandate as at November 2020, to issue Biometric Passports to Ghanaians who are abroad. In December 2018, the

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary electi ...

introduced a new Premium Passport Application Centre, located at the Accra Digital Centre, to process online passport applications faster. The Premium Passport Application Centre enables applicants to go through the passport application process within 30 minutes but at an additional charge of

80.00 (US$40.30 in December 2018). Passports issued for applications received starting 31 March 2019 have a validity period of ten years (it was previously five years). Online passport application is now available at all passport application centres nationwide (Online passport applicants were previously processed at the Accra passport application centre only). Also the manual passport application process will cease to operate starting 1 March 2020. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has introduced a 48-page passport booklet (It was previously 32 pages only) available from 1 February 2020. The ministry has also made an upward review of fees effective 1 February 2020 as follows: Ordinary passport application which was

50 is now

100 for 32 pages passport booklet and

250 for 48 pages passport booklet. Expedited passport application which was

150 is now

350 for 32 pages passport booklet and

400 for 48 pages passport booklet. Also fees for attestation of legal document which was GH₵155 is now GH₵137 and travel certificate fees which was

95 is now

137.