US backtracks on Ghana visa restrictions

The US has reversed its visa restrictions on Ghana as the country emerges as a key deportation hub in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, reports RFI. While Accra maintains it has received nothing in return for taking in deportees, one political scientist said an agreement to take in more west African deportees was the ‘only plausible explanation’. Accra has insisted it has received nothing in return for taking in the deportees, though President John Mahama acknowledged that the deal was struck as relations were ‘tightening’ – with Washington imposing tariffs as well as visa restrictions in recent months. ‘The US visa restrictions imposed on Ghana’ have been ‘reversed’, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said. In a post on X, Ablakwa said the ‘good news’ was delivered by US officials. In June, the US 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. Ablakwa attributed the US turnabout to ‘months of negotiations’ without providing futher details.

For political analyst Bright Simons, honorary vice-president of the Ghanaian think tank Imani, the Trump administration’s sudden change of course strongly suggests Ghana has agreed to take in further west African deportees. RFI reports that after weeks of detention in Ghana, allegedly under military guard and in poor conditions, six of the deportees were abruptly sent to Togo last weekend and left to fend for themselves, said Samantha Hamilton, a lawyer for civil rights organisation AAJC that has filed a lawsuit in the US on behalf of the migrants. Another plane able to carry 14 people has since arrived in Ghana, though it was unclear how many people were on it.

Full RFI report