Ghana Card as e-passport: GACL announces 1st March as take off date inbound holders 

The Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) has told all airlines through the International Air Transport Association (IATA), that the Ghana Card will from March 1, 2022, be recognised as an international travelling identity document, otherwise called e-passport for all Ghanaian holders travelling to Ghana.

The GACL, following this week's key ceremony at the headquarters of of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada to officially recognise the Ghana Card as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), the GCAA in an official notice to international airlines and airports, has confirmed that Ghanaians can start using their Ghanacard from 1st March, to travel to Ghana.

This directive also means that Ghanaians in the diaspora, who hitherto needed a Ghanaian passport and a visa to travel back home, will now be able to use their Ghana Card to travel back to Ghana without a visa.

The GACL's notification asked all airports and international airlines operating to Ghana to allow holders of the Ghana Card to board flights to Ghana, following the card's recognition by ICAO as an international Machine Readable Travel Document.

The GACL has also sent a separate notification on the new directive to the IATA Timatic Team, for publication on IATA Timatic Platform "for the general information of all concerned."

The latest step by the GACA has paved the way for airports and airlines to start recognising the Ghana Card as an e-passport.

Below is the notice by the GACL

ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL AIRPORTS AND AIRLINES ON USE OF GHANA CARD AS AN ICAO-COMPLIANT MACHINE READABLE TRAVEL DOCUMENT (MRTD) FOR GHANAIANS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TO ALL GHANAIAN AIRPORTS

Following a "Key Ceremony" at the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal, Canada, on 9th February 2022, Ghana's National Identity Card (the Ghana Card) is now duly recognised globally as a valid ID card-passport, a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) that can be read and verified by the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) at most airports.

Ghana Airports Company Limited announces to all airports and airlines that, holders of a valid GhanaCard should be allowed to to board a flight to Ghana, without the need for a visa.

This takes effect from 1st March, 2022.