Hiring in Ghana: the work permit, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step

Move someone who is already in Ghana

A work permit names the employer. Its holder takes no other paid employment in Ghana without the Immigrant Quota Committee's written consent. When the work ends, the employer and the employee each notify the Committee within seven days.

A Ghanaian citizen needs no permit. Their move turns on the notice their contract sets. The Labour Act's minimum is a month's notice on a contract of three years or more, and two weeks' under it.

Check the role is open to a non-Ghanaian

Under Ghana's Immigration Act, 2000, the Immigrant Quota Committee considers each application for a quota and a work permit. The Minister of the Interior issues them on its recommendation. A work permit goes to someone qualified for the work, whose employment will benefit Ghana generally. An approval to fill a quota post can set how long a foreign national holds it while a Ghanaian understudies the role.

The Ghana Investment Promotion Authority also grants expatriate quotas, under its own Act. The Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Act, 2026, assented to on 15 July 2026, replaced the 2013 Act. It widened the expatriate quota's thresholds.

The permit application carries the company's registration, its current tax clearance and its audited accounts for the previous year.

Set the contract up right

Employment for six months or more is secured by a written contract, which sets out the rights and obligations of each side in clear terms. Within two months of the start, the employer gives a written statement of the main terms, signed by both sides. A contract paid monthly runs from month to month, and one paid weekly from week to week. Pay is in legal tender.

A probation of reasonable length, set in advance, falls outside the Act's rules on unfair termination. The contract states its length.

Hours are at most 8 a day and 40 a week. Where some days are shorter, the others can run to 9 hours, within 40 a week. Longer days average out to 8 hours over four weeks or less. Overtime can be required only where the employer has fixed rates of pay for it. It is compelled only where the work's nature or an emergency needs it.

Continuous work has a break of at least 30 minutes, counted as working time. Each worker has 12 hours' rest between working days, and 48 consecutive hours' rest in every seven days, preferably over the weekend.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Ghana's Labour Act treats a contract of service, express or implied, oral or written, as a contract of employment. A worker is anyone employed under one, whether continuously, part-time, temporarily or casually.

A temporary worker kept on by the same employer for six months or more without a break is treated as permanent.

A role that needs a work and residence permit goes through employer of record.

Work out what a salary costs you and what the employee takes home

Take a resident on GHS 15,000 a month in basic salary, from September 2026.

The first tier counts basic salary up to GHS 69,000 a month in 2026, so the whole salary counts here. The employee pays 5.5% and you pay 13%, 18.5% in all. Of that, GHS 2,025 goes to SSNIT for the first tier and GHS 750 to the trustees of a second-tier occupational scheme. Both are paid within 14 days of the month's end. Health insurance is funded from the first tier: of its 13.5%, 2.5% goes to the National Health Insurance Fund.

Income tax is worked out after the employee's social security comes off, on GHS 14,175 here. The bands take nothing on the first GHS 588, 5% of the next GHS 80, 10% of the next GHS 100, 17.5% of the next GHS 2,900 and 25% of the rest, GHS 3,148.25 in all.

A resident can apply to the Ghana Revenue Authority for personal reliefs, such as the marriage or the child education relief. This example claims none. A non-resident pays a flat 25%. The month's return is filed by the 15th of the next month.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

Either side can end the contract on notice: a month's on a contract of three years or more, two weeks' under it, and seven days' on a contract from week to week. Notice is in writing, and pay for the notice period can replace it. A contract determinable at will ends at the close of any day.

The employer pays all remuneration due by the end of the notice. Where no notice is needed, it is paid by the next working day.

A termination is fair on the worker's incompetence or lack of qualification, proven misconduct, redundancy, or a legal bar on the work. It is unfair where the only reason is union membership, pregnancy or maternity leave, a certified temporary illness, or another ground the Act lists. It may be unfair where the employer cannot show a fair reason and a fair procedure. The National Labour Commission can order reinstatement, re-employment or compensation.

For a redundancy, the employer gives the Chief Labour Officer and the union written notice at least three months ahead, with the reasons, the numbers affected and the timing. It consults the union on avoiding the terminations and softening their effect. Redundancy pay and its terms are negotiated. A dispute over them can be referred to the Commission to settle.

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