Ghana improves ranking in third edition of Africa Visa Openness Index
In July 2016, Ghana started given all travellers holding passports from the 54 member countries of the African Union visa-on-arrival. It was the country’s move towards facilitating free movement of people in Africa – one of the flagship projects of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
The country however, has special reciprocal visa agreements with some African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Rwanda among a few others.
When in 2016 the first edition of the Africa Visa Openness Index was launched by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union (AU), Ghana ranked 22 on the Index.
The country is ranked 7 in the 2018 edition published today November 28, 2018.
According to the AfDB, the Index measures how open African countries are when it comes to visas by looking at what they ask of citizens from other countries in Africa when they travel.
It aims to show at a glance which countries are facilitating travel for citizens of other countries and how; whether they allow people to travel to their country without a visa, if travellers can get a visa on arrival in the country, or if visitors need to get a visa before travel. Data on visa openness was collected in June and July 2018, the publishers say.
The AfDB indicates further that the primary source of information was the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The 2018 edition shows that on average, African countries are becoming more open to each other. The top 20 most visa-open countries continue to improve their average score, reflecting the countries’ more liberal visa policies. In addition, 43 countries improved or maintained their score, the Index said.
“Benin made the most progress in opening up its borders to African travellers, moving from 27th place in the 2017 edition to 1st place in the 2018 report. Zimbabwe also broke into the top 20 with the introduction of a visa-on-arrival policy for SADC members. Overall, when compared to 2017, Africans do not need a visa to travel to 25 per cent of other African countries (up from 22 per cent); can get visas on arrival in 24 per cent of other African countries (same as last year); and need visas to travel to 51 per cent of other African countries (down from 54 per cent),” it said.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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