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Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, on Tuesday, 8 November 2022, officially inaugurated the Premium Application Center (PAC) in London. This is a premium service to complement the existing consular services provided by the mission.

Prior to the establishment of PAC, the ministry, led by Hon. Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, in charge of passports and visas, and the Ghana High Commission UK carried out sensitization tours and public engagements with the Ghanaian community in the UK, where he disclosed the plans for rolling out the improved consular services to ease the pressure and challenges that many applicants faced.

During the interactions in the UK on the 10th and 11th of August 2022, Hon. Ampratwum-Sarpong noted that the Ghanaian government had recognised the need for improvement in its services at the missions abroad, and as such, the ministry had made the decision to extend and deliver front-end premium services through a public-private partnership arrangement with Access Citizens Services Ghana, an intermediary specialist service provider for processing visas and passports applications.

The Premium Application Center, London is the first of its kind in the diaspora for Ghana’s missions and is the culmination of efforts within the West African country to deliver premium passport and visa application services to citizens following a successful four years pilot in Ghana.

As part of the long-term objectives of the Ghanaian government to improve consular services both at home and abroad, the opening of this brand-new Premium Application Center (PAC) is to give citizens of Ghana and visitors to Ghana, in the United Kingdom, convenient access to an efficient and comprehensive process for faster passport and visa application and acquisition all in one place.