Finding it difficult to get US visa? Here's what the US ambassador says

“Because almost 7,000 of your countrymen have overstayed their visas or committed crimes in the United States and are in some stage of the deportation process, it makes it harder for other Ghanaians to get visas so they have to show that they will have strong ties to Ghana, that is the US law, that they show that they have strong ties to Ghana," he told Ghanaweb.com.

He explained that poor, less educated Ghanaians who are single and young are more likely to overstay hence they undergo additional screening before visas are issued to them.

He said one of the criteria in the screening process is a demonstration of strong ties to Ghana by the applicant.

This, he said, was because Ghanaians constitute the 5th largest number of people who have overstayed their visas in the United States.

He said: “We look at everything about the person but poor, less educated Ghanaians who are single and young are more likely to overstay their visas, that’s just a fact and so they get additional screening. People who are young and single in particular have a hard time demonstrating that they have strong ties to Ghana”.

“Each year, approximately 16,000 Ghanaians are issued visas for travel to the United States for business, education and tourism. The reason that there is a high bar for showing strong ties to Ghana is that Ghanaians constitute the 5th largest number of people who have overstayed their visas in the United States. Up there with India, China, the Philippines, Russia which have much larger populations than Ghana does."

"There are more Ghanaians who are in deportation proceedings right now than people from Mexico or people from Nigeria which also have larger populations than Ghana.”