Immigration – Focus on Ghana

The primary legislation governing immigration in Ghana and serving as the primary source for immigration matters is the Immigration Act, 2000, (Act 573) and the Immigration Regulations, 2001 (L.I 1691). The Ghana Immigration Service is the front-line agency responsible for the entry, residence and employment of foreign nationals in Ghana in accordance with the provision of the Immigration Act (Act 573), 2000.

However, Ghana’s immigration regime and local economic concerns make room for various other agencies and regulators to play various roles in some immigration processes relevant to the needs of the workforce in specific sectors. These include the Petroleum Commission (PC) in respect of Petroleum Companies and companies offering services to the petroleum sector, Minerals Commission (MC) for mining companies and mining support companies, Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) for other companies with non-Ghanaian participation and the Free Zones Board (GFZB) for companies registered as Free Zones companies.

The involvement of these regulators may be in the form of issuing automatic immigrant quotas to the control over the entire work authorization processes for companies intending to employ foreign nationals.