Before you start

A Ghanaian employer or a GIPC-registered company willing to sponsor you
Employment contract or appointment letter
Police clearance from your home country
A medical report from the Ghana Immigration Clinic in Accra
Degree certificates and CV

Step-by-step

1
Employer applies for the work permit
The employer applies to the Ghana Immigration Service with the company's incorporation documents, current tax clearance certificate, most recent audited accounts, your contract and your credentials. Where the company is GIPC-registered with a free automatic quota slot, this route is faster.
Via employerWho: Your employerWeeks to a couple of months
2
Register for the non-citizen Ghana Card
The National Identification Authority registers foreign nationals cumulatively resident 90 days or more. Book the appointment early — the card is required for the residence permit, for a bank account, for keeping a SIM and for tax. The first-issue fee is set in US dollars with a lower renewal fee, and the card typically runs a year.
In personWho: YouFrom day 90, and start earlier
3
Do the Ghana Immigration Clinic medical
The medical report has to come from the Ghana Immigration Clinic in Accra specifically, not from your own doctor. This trips up applicants outside the capital and it is one of the reasons Accra-based applications move faster.
In personWho: You
4
Apply for the residence permit
With the work permit granted and the Ghana Card in hand, apply for the residence permit at the Ghana Immigration Service. The employer writes the covering letter; you supply the medical, the police clearance and the photographs. Expect a year's validity initially.
In personWho: YouAfter the work permit
5
Register dependants separately
Spouses and children need their own residence permits and their own Ghana Cards if resident 90 days or more. A dependant permit does not carry work rights — a working spouse needs their own sponsor and their own work permit.
In personWho: You
6
Diarise both expiry dates independently
The work permit and the residence permit do not always expire on the same day, and renewals run on separate tracks. Put both in a calendar with two months' warning. The Ghana Card has its own renewal cycle on top.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport valid well beyond the stay
Employer's application letter and employment contract
Company incorporation documents, tax clearance and audited accounts
Ghana Immigration Clinic medical report
Police clearance from your home country
Non-citizen Ghana Card
Two recent passport photographs, under six months old

Things most newcomers don’t know

The Ghana Card is a prerequisite for the residence permit, not a consequence of it.

Almost everyone assumes the national ID follows from the immigration status. In Ghana the non-citizen Ghana Card, issued by the National Identification Authority to foreigners cumulatively resident 90 days or more, is required in order to apply for or renew a residence permit — and separately for bank accounts, mobile money, tax and SIM registration. Getting the order wrong means a residence permit application that cannot be filed, and NIA appointment queues are not short.

Source: National Identification Authority

A GIPC automatic quota is a company entitlement that changes your timeline, and it is worth asking about at offer stage.

Companies registered with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre under Act 865 receive an automatic immigrant quota scaled to their paid-up foreign capital, capped at four persons under the current Act. A slot means the individual work permit is issued against a standing entitlement rather than fought for from scratch. Asking a prospective employer whether they are GIPC-registered and whether a slot is free tells you more about your start date than any HR timeline will.

Source: Ghana Immigration Service

The Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill would change the quota numbers, and it is not law yet.

A bill replacing the GIPC Act 2013 passed Parliament and would remove some minimum-capital requirements and raise the automatic quota ceiling well above four persons. At the time of writing it had not received presidential assent, so Act 865's thresholds and cap still apply. Consultants and articles are already quoting the new figures. Plan against the law that is actually in force and check whether assent has since happened.

Source: Ghana Immigration Service; parliamentary reporting

The Right of Abode is a real statutory route for the diaspora, with a three-generation test people rarely read.

Section 17 of the Immigration Act 2000 (Act 573) lets the Minister, with the President's approval, grant an indefinite right to live and work in Ghana without a permit to a person of African descent in the diaspora. The Act defines that as someone whose immediate forebears have lived outside Africa for at least three generations. It also requires good character attested by two qualified Ghanaians and a finding that you can make a substantial contribution to Ghana's development. It is genuine, and it is discretionary.

Source: Ministry of the Interior

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a work permit alone makes you lawfully resident.
Leaving the Ghana Card until after the residence permit application is filed.
Getting the medical report from a private doctor instead of the Ghana Immigration Clinic.
Planning around the new investment-promotion quota numbers before assent.
Letting the work permit and residence permit expiries drift apart unnoticed.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.