The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has inaugurated a new Ghana Visa and Passport Application Center in London in the United Kingdom.
Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, on Tuesday, 8 November 2022, officially inaugurated the Premium Application Center (PAC) in London.
The newly inaugurated centre forms part of the long-term objectives of the government to improve consular services both at home and abroad.
It will also provide an avenue for efficient and comprehensive process for faster passport and visa application and acquisition all in one place.
The mission’s existing consular services will be supplemented by the PAC which will offer innovative and practical consular services to visitors and citizens of Ghana.
Prior to the establishment of PAC, the ministry, led by Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, in charge of passports and visas, and the Ghana High Commission UK carried out sensitization tours and public engagements with the Ghanaian community in the UK, where he disclosed the plans for rolling out the improved consular services to ease the pressure and challenges that many applicants faced.
Speaking at the inauguration was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, reiterated the resolve of the ministry to further improve its service delivery.
“This milestone event marks another achievement in the determination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to provide quality service delivery at home and its missions abroad. The opening of this PAC, the first to be established, is a testimony to the progress we have made in recent years,” she said.
Adding that every applicant could expect expedited frontline consular services for passport, visa, and travel certificate applications.
Ms Botchwey further emphasised that the final determination of applications would be done by the consular section of the Ghana High Commission – so the PAC was for frontline services only.
“I, therefore, call on Ghanaians and the public to take advantage of this PAC. As the ministry opens such facilities in several Ghanaian missions in the coming years, we will draw lessons from the successes and shortcomings of the London PAC – I hope for more successes than shortcomings”, she said.
Encouraging the patronage of the service of PAC was the country’s High Commissioner to UK and Ireland, Papa Owusu-Ankomah who also indicated that its establishment came as a relief to the mission.
According to him, the PAC provides an alternative for anyone who wanted to apply for visas and passports.
“I hope that we’ll cooperate so that this becomes a success and demonstrates the way Ghana is improving its consular services globally,” he added.
