Beware of instant passports – Foreign Minister

It was recently reported that some Ghanaian footballers are stranded in Iran with threats of imprisonment. Iran authorities were not amused because the players do not have the necessary documents to be in the country.

Investigations showed that the said footballers were conned by a “connection man” who promised to get them Iranian clubs to ply their trades.

The victims had fake passports, expired visas and no work permit as of the time of their arrest.

The situation compelled the Ghana mission in Iran to raise funds to bring them back home.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hannah Tetteh, on this backdrop, has cautioned Ghanaians to “cultivate the habit of waiting,” and take the pain to cross-check with foreign missions and consulates on such “schemes that seem too good to be true”.

She reiterated there was no instant passport, in the strictest sense of the word instant.

Acquisition of passports follows laid down processes, adding that her ministry does the due diligence-crosschecking of information before signing off on disbursement of passports.

She attributed the delay in passport issuance to the detailed nature of the process.

Passports are processed and issued to applicants after three months of submission when all necessary requirements are met.

However, ‘connection men’ have been facilitating the quick acquisition of passport. This can be done within the space of three hours.