Ghana Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

 * Gold Coast Database Ghana and the Netherlands: Genealogies, Biographies, Histories
 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Ghana
 * 1924-1947 Ghana (Gold Coast), Colonial Secretary's Office, passport applications, images only.

British Overseas Subjects

 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Ghana, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Africa, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Ghana, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Africa, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Ghana
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Ghana, see Ghana Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Ghana Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Ghana

 * Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese Empire, followed by numerous other European powers, contested the area for trading rights, until the British ultimately established control of the coast by the late 19th century.
 * Early European contact by the Portuguese people, who came to the Gold Coast region in the 15th century to trade and then established the Portuguese Gold Coast (Costa do Ouro), focused on the extensive availability of gold.
 * The Portuguese built a trading lodge at a coastal settlement called Anomansah (the perpetual drink) which they renamed São Jorge da Mina. In 1481, King John II of Portugal commissioned Don Diego d'Azambuja to build the Elmina Castle, which was completed in three years.
 * By 1598, the Dutch had joined the Portuguese in the gold trade, establishing the Dutch Gold Coast and building forts at Fort Komenda and Kormantsi.In 1617, the Dutch captured the Olnini Castle from the Portuguese, and Axim in 1642 (Fort St Anthony).
 * Other European traders had joined in gold trading by the mid-17th century, most notably the Swedes, establishing the Swedish Gold Coast, and Denmark-Norway, establishing the Danish Gold Coast.
 * Also beginning in the 17th century – in addition to the gold trade – Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French traders also participated in the Atlantic slave trade in this area.
 * More than thirty forts and castles were built by the Portuguese, Swedish, Dano-Norwegians, Dutch and German merchants; the latter Germans establishing the German Gold Coast.
 * In 1874, Great Britain established control over some parts of the country, assigning these areas the status of British Gold Coast.
 * On 1 July 1960, following the Ghanaian constitutional referendum and Ghanaian presidential election, Ghana became an independent republic.

Skilled Worker Immigration

 * Ghana has a skilled worker immigration policy aimed at creating a highly skilled and knowledgeable Ghanaian population, capable of creating wealth for Ghana and rapidly increasing the Ghanaian economy GDP output. Ghana has recruited highly skilled professional experts in the fields of information and communications technology, manufacturing, health care, construction, finance and banking, retailing and the oil and gas industry sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
 * Skilled worker immigrants in Ghana include Indian, South Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Cuban, Lebanese, Chinese, German and Dutch nationals.
 * After seven years as Ghanaian permanent residents, skilled workers have gone on to become Ghanaian nationals. Since 2012, Ghana has also had its highly professional skilled worker expatriates returning from the diaspora back to Ghana.*According to the Ghana Statistics Service 375,000 of the Ghana resident population were born outside Ghana. Countries with the highest populations in Ghana include Togo, Nigeria, Ivory coast, Liberia, Benin, Niger, and Mali.

African Americans in Ghana

 * Ghana currently is trying to attract African slave descendants from the Americas. Thousands of African Americans are already now living in Ghana, at least for part of the year.
 * To encourage migration or visits by the descendants of enslaved Africans from the Americas, Ghana decided in 2005 to offer them a special visa and grant them

For Further Reading
There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:
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