Moving to Ghana? What the UK government, the revenue authority and the port authority say, what could not be read, and Accra and Tema named.
International Movers to Ghana
A shipment to Ghana normally goes through Tema, the larger of the two seaports, and is cleared by the Ghana Revenue Authority. Its pages set out a baggage concession, a relief for Ghanaians returning home, and a separate page for cars. Whether a British household gets the same relief is not stated. Partner firms quote for packing, the sea leg and the papers.
What does the UK government say about moving to Ghana?
A British passport holder needs a visa before travelling, a yellow fever certificate and a passport with six months left. Settling is a different question from visiting, and the pages read here do not answer it.
Visa, passport and vaccine
The UK government’s Ghana entry page opens its visa section with “You must have a visa to visit Ghana.” On timing it says: “The visa processing time is 10 to 15 days.” For a faster route: “To get a visa in around 3 days, check if you can use the express service available in person from the Ghana Premium Application Centre in London.” On the passport: “To enter Ghana, your passport must have an expiry date at least 6 months after the date you arrive.” On health: “To enter Ghana, you must have a certificate to prove you’ve had a yellow fever vaccination.” Separately, “International travellers must complete an online Ghana Health Declaration before travel.” The warnings page records: “Updated: 4 November 2026 Latest update: Updated information about Ebola screening in Ghana”. A visit visa is not permission to live there. For the rules on settling, the page tells you to “contact the Ghana High Commission in the UK”, and we have not read what the High Commission requires.
Registering once you live there
The same page says: “If you live in Ghana, you must register with the National Identification Authority (NIA) of Ghana and get a non-citizen Ghana card.” It adds: “You must register all foreign nationals aged 6 years and above in your family who are either:” Those covered are people permanently resident, and people resident in Ghana for at least 90 days in any calendar year. A visa extension is done in person: “take the visa extension form and photos in person to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) office on Independence Avenue in Accra”.
One area is closed to all but essential travel
The warnings page says: “FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the Bawku Municipal area in the Upper East region of Ghana.” It is in the north of the country, far from Tema and Accra, so it matters mainly if a delivery address or an overland leg is planned there. Read the map on the page before agreeing one.
Cash you carry in
The UK government says: “There are strict rules about goods you can take into or out of Ghana”. On money: “You must declare all hard currency, using the declaration form provided on arrival.” Then: “You can bring in up to a maximum Ghanaian cedi equivalent of 10,000 US dollars.” And the penalty: “The Ghanaian authorities can confiscate the entire amount if you are carrying cash of this value or more.” Move large sums by bank transfer, not in hand luggage.
For any other African country, the Africa page gives the UK government entry rule and links to the guides we have.
Customs and duty
What does Ghana’s revenue authority publish for household goods and cars?
The Ghana Revenue Authority publishes a baggage concession, a removal relief for Ghanaians returning home, a vehicle page and the clearance steps. Whether a foreign household gets the removal relief is not stated, so that part is not yet confirmed.
Baggage concession: what counts as personal effects
The authority’s passenger page lists, among baggage and personal effects, “articles for household use (such as perambulators, pictures, glassware, linen, cutlery, crockery, and plates) which are shown to have been in the passenger’s personal or household use for a reasonable period”. For electrical goods: “In the case of electrical goods, these should have been in the bona fide use of the passenger for at least six (6) months to qualify for the concession.” A further condition: “The items involved must be for the use of the passenger concerned and NOT for sale or intended for other persons.” Goods that arrive separately matter too: “Passengers who have sent their personal effects in advance or are expecting personal effects after arrival must declare these” On timing, “This declaration must be made immediately on arrival or within forty-eight (48) hours of arrival.” And “If a passenger fails to declare so, he/she may forfeit the concession.”
Removal articles: relief for Ghanaians returning home
The page says: “Ghanaians who have stayed outside Ghana for more than twelve (12) continuous months and are moving residence may import their removal articles free of taxes.” It lists what counts, including “domestic appliances, household provisions normally kept in stock, collectors’ pieces, pet animals”. Then the exclusion that matters for a car owner: “Removal articles do not include arms, ammunition and motor vehicles.” The page does not say whether a non-Ghanaian moving to Ghana gets this relief or what it needs by way of papers. Ask the partner company, and ask Ghana’s customs authority, before you ship.
Import duty, VAT and other charges: a trade guide
A US government guide for exporters says: “Ghana applies five tariff bands to products from the United States”. The fourth band is 20% duty on consumer goods, the kind of goods in many homes. It says: “The import duty is assessed on the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) value of the good.” On VAT: “Ghana raised its VAT to 15% in 2022.” It adds that other levies and fees stack on top: “The net effect of these charges can be to add as much as 12% of the cost insurance freight value of the good.” The guide is not a household rule and does not say that a removal shipment pays any of this.
How a shipment is cleared
The revenue authority says: “Goods will be successfully imported with the assistance of Customs Agents”. For ordinary imports the documents it lists are an original waybill or bill of lading, an attested invoice, a packing list, the Import Declaration Form from the Ministry of Trade, and a Taxpayer Identification Number from the authority or a GhanaCard PIN. Whether a household move needs each of these, such as the Ministry of Trade form, is not stated, so the list is a checklist to put to your partner company. Declarations go through the Integrated Customs Management System, and the page gives risk colours: “Red – Mandatory physical examination.” A yellow result is a digital scan.
Cars have their own page
The same authority publishes a vehicle page, and its message for a British owner is short: a right-hand-drive car is refused in the ordinary way, and duty depends on engine size and age. The removal relief above does not cover motor vehicles. The car shipping to Ghana page sets out the duty bands, the papers and the charges.
What is not yet confirmed
Not found on the pages read: the relief for a British or other foreign household, a deadline for shipping after arrival, and any inventory format. Ask for these in writing from the partner company and the customs authority before you book. The UK customs documentation checklist lists the British side.
Ports and shipping
Which port does a shipment to Ghana use?
Tema is the answer on the port authority’s own description and on Wikipedia’s account of the two seaports. Takoradi is the second port. Your partner company decides which one when it books.
Tema, the larger port
Wikipedia says: “Tema Port, which was opened in 1962, is the bigger of the two seaports in Ghana.” It adds that an “expansion project to increase container output to 3 million TEU was completed”. The port authority says: “Over 50 Shipping lines and agencies provide both direct and indirect shipping services to and from the Port of Tema.” Of cargo it says: “Cargo types handled include Agri bulk, bagged cargo, containerized cargo, dry bulk, forest products, frozen cargo, general cargo, iron/steel, liquid bulk, machinery/equipment, and vehicles.” Vehicles and containers are both on that list.
The Golden Jubilee Terminal inside Tema
The port authority describes it: “The Golden Jubilee Terminal (GJT) is an inland clearance depot (ICD) located on the western end of the Port of Tema.” On vehicles the page says: “The terminal responsible for receiving and delivering vehicles imported in containers”. Among its services it lists “full container loads (FCL), less than full container loads (LCL) and house-to-house receipts and deliveries”. On opening, it says “deliveries are done between the hours of 7:30am and 7:30pm on week days”, and it gives Saturday deliveries from 08:30 to 16:30. A house-to-house delivery is the nearest thing to a household service in the sources read, and no price or storage time is given.
When the port works
The authority says: “The Port opens seven days a week, all year round, except on Christmas Day and Good Friday when ships are handled only in emergency.” It adds: “Main working hours are 07.30-19.30 hours GMT.” A delivery date in a quote should allow for those closing days and for overtime rates at weekends.
Takoradi
The authority’s own page says of 2025: “Handled 27.7% (11,418,117 MT) of Ghana’s national seaborne Traffic in 2025”. On imports: “Handled 15.52% (3,752,880 MT) of Ghana’s national seaborne imports in 2025”. It also claims a quick turnaround: “2-day documentation, clearance and delivery procedure”. The imports it names are clinker, petroleum products, wheat, coal and limestone, and the exports manganese, bauxite and cocoa, which are bulk cargoes and not household goods, so Tema is the more likely port for a household. Your partner company confirms the port.
From the UK: not yet confirmed
No source read names a sailing from a British port to Tema or Takoradi, a transit time or a price. Ask for those in the quote, together with who clears the goods in Ghana and when the port’s storage time begins.
Places named
Where are Accra and Tema?
The two places that had pages on the earlier version of this site are named below with their census or estimate figures. Our sources give neither a moving rule of its own, so there is no separate page for either.
Accra
Wikipedia gives the capital’s figures from the 2021 census: 284,124 people in the Accra Metropolitan District, and 5.46 million in the larger Greater Accra Region. Counting the area as it stood before 2008, it gives 1,782,150 inhabitants. The UK government names the Ghana Immigration Service office on Independence Avenue in Accra for visa extensions, and the revenue authority gives an Accra postal address for customs help. Wikipedia also says the city has railway links to Tema, Sekondi-Takoradi and Kumasi.
Tema
Wikipedia places Tema 25 kilometres east of Accra, in the Greater Accra Region. It says: “As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of approximately 161,612 people”. The port sits in the town, and the sources read do not describe the road leg between Tema and Accra, so ask who delivers and what it costs.
Anywhere else in Ghana
Write the town in the enquiry form. The sources read give no customs office, depot or fee for other towns, so the quote has to say how the goods travel from Tema or Takoradi. For the other West African market on this site, the Nigeria guide covers the Lagos ports and cars.
Related guides
Guides that apply to every Ghana move
Ghana has this page only. The guides below cover steps that are the same whatever the destination.
Not confirmed. The published relief names Ghanaians returning home.
The revenue authority’s passenger page offers tax-free removal articles to Ghanaians abroad for more than twelve continuous months. It does not say the same for foreign households, so ask before you book.
Which port will my container use?
Most likely Tema, but your partner company confirms it.
Wikipedia calls Tema the bigger of the two seaports. Takoradi is the other. No sailing from a UK port could be read.
Can I ship my UK car to Ghana?
Not a right-hand-drive one in the ordinary way.
The rules, duty bands and papers are set out on the separate car page, linked above.
Do I need a visa to move to Ghana?
Yes, to visit. Settling rules are not confirmed here.
The UK government says a visa is required, with a yellow fever certificate. Ask the High Commission what it needs for residence.
Are Accra and Tema covered on this page?
Yes, both are named with census or estimate figures.
Any other town goes into the enquiry as plain text.
Start your Ghana move enquiry
Tell us the Ghanaian town, where in the UK the load starts, the month you want to ship and what is going. Say if a car is coming and which side the steering wheel is on. A partner company reads it and comes back with its own questions before any price.
International Removals Companies is an enquiry and introduction service run by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, in partnership with AGM Group. We don't move goods ourselves: the removal company quotes for your move and carries it out, so check its credentials and terms before you book. Our service is free. Discuss the quotation and booking terms directly with the removal company.