The Ghana High Commission in Ottawa, Canada has announced an immediate in Consular Fees. These increases are to say the least unreasonable! A single Entry Visa Fee jumps from twenty-three dollars to a whooping sixty-five dollars, an increase of one hundred and eighty-two per cent, while a multiple-Entry Visa Fee jumps from sixty-five dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars.

The Ghanaian News has also learned that in Britain the fee has been increased from fifteen pounds to thirty pounds, a hundred percent increase! The fee has also been increased in US from US$20 to US$50.

We recognize the fact that fees for consular services at Foreign Missions need to be adjusted from time to time. But the officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to realize that price adjustment for goods and services in Canada, US, Britain, Australia or the rest of Europe are not done as in Ghana when prices shoot up outrageously every four hours with no consideration for notices or the quality of the goods or services being provided.

We find it difficult to justify the need for a nearly two hundred percent increase in visa fees with absolutely no warning or advanced notice. And we find it difficult again to compute the quality of service involved in the processing of an application for a visa that justify a fee of sixty five or one hundred and fifty dollars.

German embassy announces closure of visa section

It said, in the following week business may also be restricted until the new system is fully operational. A statement issued in Accra, said once the new system had been implemented, the embassy would issue new Schengen visa stickers containing a (Passport size) photograph of the bearer of the passport.

During the transitional period both the old and new visa stickers will be used and should be accepted by the immigration authorities. It said there would also be a change concerning the payment of visa fees.