A friend with locked doors

Back in the 1990s one had to drive or walk around Osu RE to see the dawn queues at the US and UK Consular Offices.

Those were the days when you had to keep vigil at the gates of the embassy or high commission and watch the sunrise swing slowly into view, and watch embassy staff drive in with stoic faces, attempting to stay oblivious to the crowds at the gate.

Then were the security offices, fellow Ghanaians who found themselves with some form of authority to keep order.

They would grab and hold visa application forms and address you with scorn before flinging them at you. It is a fact that visa applications can be some of the most undignified things one can go through in Ghana.

In our day at university when it was quite common for students to travel to the UK in particular during the summer for holidays, many of my contemporaries regularly spent the night outside their consular offices, returning to campus either with beaming smiles or long faces, but tired from the vigil.

Third-party arrangements

Then came in the practice of third-party contractors, to who the embassies handed the application collection process and the appointment processes to, no doubt in an attempt to streamline the process and get rid of the rather unsightly queues.

Today, most embassies use this approach. You may never have to enter the grounds of an embassy except where there is a need for an interview.  Indeed, in the case of the UK, all visa applications are dealt with and decided in Sheffield UK.

Out of all the foreign missions, the US Embassy appears to have drawn the short straw on this. Their third-party contractors have rather provided obviously incompetent services.

Until August 25, 2024 anyone applying for a US visa would have a typical appointment scheduled a year away or more. The embassy announced that from August 26, 2024, it was moving to a new service provider, obviously to deal with this problem.

The new application portal leading to the payment of the visa fees does work. After that, securing an appointment, the final stage of the visa process is virtually impossible and is a nightmare. The appointments section of the portal simply does not work.

Yet, some are able to secure appointments through supposed contacts who appear to have taken hold of several appointment slots and then reportedly sell them at prices higher than the visa application fee itself.

A friend was recently told that for $400 he could secure an early appointment for his son who had gained admission to a US university earlier and desperately needed a student visa appointment. The boy has since lost his place and has had to defer his programme.

Conversely, an applicant for a UK visa, for instance, can be guaranteed of slot availability within a few days to submit their documents, even though several of the imminent slots are available at a premium fee. They even have Saturday slots for submission.

Many Ghanaians, students with scholarships or business executives have had to defer travel plans out of frustration as a result of this massive cock-up.

So many Ghanaians are having to apply for US visas through other countries, with some having to travel to Abidjan in La Cote d’Ivoire, or even as far as Monrovia, Liberia, just to take advantage of earlier slots in those countries, at considerable cost by way of hotel and flight costs.

Startling statistics

The website of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs officially sets out on its website (https://travel.state.gov/) the estimated wait time to receive an interview appointment at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate across the world.

Whilst applicants in Accra for B1/B2 visitor’s visas for the US can expect to wait a whopping 462 days (about one year and three months!) for an appointment, for those in Addis Ababa it is 166 days, for Banjul it is 66 days, for Freetown it is 156, Kigali 86, Lagos 108, Lome 89, whilst applicants in Monrovia only have to wait seven days for an appointment.

When it comes to Student/Exchange visa appointments, the story is not much different. Accra clocks 179 days, Abidjan 93, Banjul 62, Lagos 58 and Lome is a mere 21 days.

Getting a grip

So many high-scoring Ghanaian students have gained admission to several American universities and colleges. Some have been awarded scholarships.

One cannot miss the several education fairs and school visits in Ghana by representatives from American schools promoting the programmes offered by their schools. What is the point of all of those if at the end of it all such a student is unable to secure a visa appointment?

As to why this appears to be solely affecting the appointment system relating to Ghana, and not of other countries is a mystery.

If the portals created by the third parties are not secure and are susceptible to hacks, resulting in the mass capture of appointments for sale illegally and leading to long delays for would-be applicants, these service providers should be jettisoned, and the more credible ones available used.

A visa application system is, at the end of the day, a service, and it need not be a matter of sweat and tears.

Reader, I have always believed that if one wants to assess the weight of the respect countries have for each other, look at their visa application systems.

The writer is the Head of the Communications & Public Affairs Unit, Ministry of Energy.