US lifts visa restrictions on Ghana, restores eligibility for five-year multiple-entry visas after deportee agreement

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US lifts visa restrictions on Ghana, restores eligibility for five-year multiple-entry visas after deportee agreement

The United States has reversed its visa restrictions on Ghana after the West African country agreed to accept west Africans deported by the United States.

Ghana’s foreign minister made the announcement on Friday, September 26.

“The US visa restrictions imposed on Ghana” have been “reversed”, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced Friday.

In a post on X, Ablakwa said the “good news” was delivered by US officials on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The reversal was the result of “months of high-level diplomatic negotiations”, Ablakwa said.

Earlier this month, amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Ghanaian President John Mahama revealed that the country was accepting west Africans deported by the United States.

US President Donald Trump has made so-called “third-country” deportations a hallmark of his anti-immigration crackdown, sending people to countries where they have no ties or family.

Accra has insisted it has received nothing in return for taking in the deportees, though Mahama acknowledged that the deal was struck as relations were “tightening”, with Washington imposing tariffs as well as visa restrictions in recent months.

In June, the United States announced restrictions on most visas for nationals from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria, restricting them to three months and a single entry.

“Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple entry visas and other enhanced consular privileges,” Ablakwa said on September 26.

At least 14 west Africans have been sent to Ghana since the beginning of September, though neither Accra nor Washington has made details of the arrangement public.