Ghanaians planning on travelling abroad should do away with the services of middlemen, popularly known as ‘goro boys’, in their visa applications, the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has warned.
The GIS gave the advice after it revealed on Wednesday May 3 that 1968 Ghanaians were deported in 2016 for various offences.
The Senior Communications Officer of the GIS, Francis Pamdetti, in an interview on Accra News on Wednesday, said in addition to overstaying their visas or being involved in crime, some Ghanaians had been deported from other countries because they relied on middlemen to procure visas and were found wanting when they eventually arrived abroad unable to provide convincing reasons for their visit, for which reason they were sent back home by immigration officials.
“For anyone intent on travelling abroad, resorting to ‘goro boys’ and middlemen doesn’t help, because for them all they do is to take your passport and get it affixed with visa, return it to you and take their money,” he told Naa Atswei Oduro. “But often where you intend to travel to, he has never been there, neither does he know what the laws of that country say.
“Because some persons do not apply for the visa themselves, they are bereft of information and when they arrive in the country they intend to visit, they are unable to answer questions properly on their purpose there or how many days they will stay there or who they will put up with. So once officials realise that these are confused persons and will not allow them into the country, they send them back.”
Mr Pamdetti explained that to avert such incidents, the GIS had set up the Migration Information Bureau at its headquarters, and a Migration Information Centre at Sunyani – owing to the high rate of migration from the Brong Ahafo Region to Europe and the US – to provide would-be travellers with travel advice and information prior to applying for visas.
“So I would say that if anyone desires to travel, he should try to get information about immigration and also obtain some useful information on the country he wants to visit,” he asked.
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