Ghana has made history with its National Identity Card (the GhanaCard) which is now recognized globally as a valid e-passport/ID card, reports ITREALMS.
Ghana, ITREALMS gathered, officially became the 79th member of the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) community in October 2019.
According to ICAO, with Wednesday's Key Ceremony in Montreal, the Ghanacard becomes internationally acceptable for travel, and border control authorities can confirm in less than 10 seconds that the Ghanacard/e-passport was issued by the right authority, has not been altered, and is not a copied or cloned document.
Technically, ITREALMS gathered that Ghanacard makes it faster and more effective for border control authorities to verify the identity of holders.
The holder of a Ghanacard, ITREALMS
Just as diasporan Ghanaians who hold the Ghanacard will not require a visa to travel to Ghana and member countries of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
"Traveling outside ECOWAS however, will require that you use your normal biometric passport which will contain your visas," declared the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
He also assured that in the not too distant future, Ghana is expected to commence electronic visas issuance under ICAO 2.0 protocols.
"When this starts, electronic visas could be issued on the Ghanacard under bilateral arrangements with other countries," he said.
Further, he said, this is a major achievement by Ghana for which they should all be proud.
"I would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, Ministry of Interior, Ghana Immigration Service, National Identification Authority, NITA, and Margins Group for their tireless efforts working in collaboration to make this day possible. Ayekoo!"
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