Accra’s satellite office in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa, has become a full-service immigration office like Accra. Certain countries (see list of area responsibilities*) currently under the jurisdiction of the Accra regional processing centre (RPC) will become part of Abidjan’s new territory after April 1. The division of responsibilities basically follows linguistic lines: French-speaking for Abidjan (with the exception of Benin and Togo, which will remain with Accra because of close proximity) and English-speaking for Accra.
Immigrant files in West Africa currently being processed in RPC Accra and which already had reached the selection stage by April 1, 2001 will remain in Accra until final decision. Immigrant files from the new Abidjan territory awaiting selection on April 1, 2001 will be transferred from RPC Accra to Abidjan for continuation of processing. The physical transfer of the files will take place towards the end of April. Accra will advise clients in writing if their file is transferred to Abidjan and Abidjan will be contacting those concerned with further information on processing. This will be an administrative transfer i.e. no transfer fees.
In summary, instead of the current establishment of an RPC in Accra and a visitor satellite in Abidjan, CIC now will have two full-service visa offices in West Africa in order to better serve clients there. However, RPC Accra will retain certain regional responsibilities such as regional Immigration Control Office (ICO) and the office responsible for the Sierra Leone refugee population in Guinea. Thus, refugee undertakings for Guinea would continue to be sent to Accra along with those for the other countries of Accra’s area of responsibility. Refugee undertakings for countries in Abidjan’s territory would be sent to Abidjan.
* Area Responsibilities as of April 1, 2001 for Abidjan and Accra visa offices:
Abidjan: Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea (except refugees), Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal
Accra: Ascension, Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea (refugees), Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome & Principe, St. Helena, Togo, Tristan da Cunha