Foreign spouses of Ghanaian nationals want citizenship

MEMBERS of the International Spouses’ Association of Ghana (ISAG) will today submit letters of application to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). The leadership of the association will also be seeking a meeting with the Director of the GIS at the same time.

A statement issued by the ISAG said the move has been prompted by the directive of the acting Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, on July 3, 2002 to the GIS during a visit, to “start issuing forms and stickers to prospective applicants for dual citizenship” with immediate effect.

The Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573) became law more than two-and-half years ago. Section 16 of the law provides for Indefinite residence for foreign spouses of Ghanaian nationals and subject to certain conditions and this finally gives foreign spouses the right to live in the country for an unlimited period.

The statement said although information indicates that the requisite application forms for Indefinite Residence have been printed since April, this year, the forms have still not been issued despite repeated calls by ISAG.

“The non-issuance of the forms means that foreign spouses of Ghanaian nationals are being denied the justice they won through legislation,” it said.

It said hitherto, most female foreign spouses were granted only one-year resident permits with the maximum duration of five years, regardless of the number of years they had been married to Ghanaians or had lived in the country. It said every application had on each occasion to be accompanied by a letter from the Ghanaian partner confirming that he wished his spouse to remain in the country.

The statement said male spouses, on the other hand, could not even apply for residence permits on the basis of being married to a Ghanaian, explaining that “they could only get resident permits as investors or quota workers”.