The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has issued indefinite residence permits to over 40 foreign spouses of Ghanaians. The move will enable them to stay in the country as long as they wish. The beneficiaries, belonging to both sexes are all members of the International Spouses' Association of Ghana.

The issuance of the permit, under the Immigration Act 2000 (Act 573) also exempted such spouses from all immigration laws, such as the law of a foreign spouse acquiring a working permit to work in Ghana or renewing a staying permit at a certain period of time. A total of 200 of the foreign spouses had sought the permit but only 79 really applied for it.

Parliament approved the inclusion of section 16 of the Immigration Acts 573 four years ago, while the relevant Legislative Instrument (LI 1691) was passed in 2001 to deal with acts of discrimination against the foreign spouses.

Director of the Immigration Service, Elizabeth Agyei announcing the move in Accra explained that the law took cognisance of every foreign citizen who had either lived in the country for more than two years or more and who wished to legalize their stay.

She said for a country with a population of 20 million, it was inadequate to have only 70,000 foreign residents and that there was the need to have more to offer their technical and management skills to the nation.