Accra is a workable base for remote work, and the two things that decide whether it feels workable are power and internet. Solve those and the rest is administration.
Internet
- Fibre is the best option where it reaches, at roughly ₵300 to ₵900 a month. Coverage is the constraint, not price — it serves one street and not the next, so check your actual address before signing a lease.
- A mobile router on one of the 3 networks is the usual fallback and the usual primary outside fibre areas.
- Two networks, always. Everyone who works online here seriously has a backup SIM from a different operator, because outages are network-specific.
- Satellite internet now operates in Ghana and has changed the calculation for people outside fibre coverage. Check current availability and the hardware cost.
Test the address, not the neighbourhood
Before you take a flat, ask the provider to confirm service at that exact house number, and ask the neighbours what they actually use. “Fibre is in East Legon” is true and tells you nothing about your street.
Power
dumsor is not what it was at its worst, and it has not gone away.
- A UPS or inverter covering a router and a laptop is the minimum, and is cheap relative to one missed client call.
- A power bank big enough to charge a laptop, for the same reason.
- A prepaid meter that you top up before it runs out. The ECG app exists precisely so you are not looking for a vendor at 11pm.
- A hub as a fallback, which is what a hot desk is genuinely for.
— Electricity and dumsor — Tech hubs
Time zones
Ghana is on GMT all year with no daylight saving, which is the quiet advantage nobody mentions. You overlap the whole European working day and most of the US east coast afternoon. For a company in London you are simply in the office.
Getting paid
The awkward part. Options, roughly in order of how much friction they carry:
- A foreign bank account you already hold, drawn on here. Simple if you have one, and the transfer cost is where it bites.
- An employer of record, if your employer uses one that covers Ghana. They handle the payroll and often the tax.
- Payment platforms that support Ghanaian withdrawal to a bank or to MoMo. Compare the exchange rate, not the advertised fee.
- A foreign currency account at a Ghanaian bank, which several banks offer and which avoids forced conversion.
- Direct wire to a cedi account, which converts at the bank’s rate on arrival whether you like it or not.
— Sending money to Ghana — Opening a bank account
Whose exchange risk is it?
If your salary is agreed in dollars and paid in cedis, somebody is choosing the rate. Get it in writing which rate and on which date, or your pay cut arrives without anyone telling you.
Tax
The part people get wrong, in both directions.
If you are resident in Ghana, your income is generally taxable in Ghana, including income earned from a foreign employer. Being paid abroad is not the same as being taxed abroad, and “the money never entered Ghana” is not the test.
Whether you also owe tax where the employer sits depends on that country’s rules and on any double taxation agreement. This is a question for an accountant, not for a forum.
- Find out whether you are tax resident in Ghana under the Income Tax Act 2015 (Act 896).
- Find out whether your employer is withholding anything already.
- Register with the GRA and file, if you should be.
- Keep records of what you were paid and what rate it converted at.
— Income tax and PAYE — Freelancing in Ghana — Accountants
If you are not Ghanaian
Working remotely from Ghana for a foreign employer still means being in Ghana legally. Ghana has no dedicated digital nomad visa, so this means the ordinary visa and residence rules.
— Ghana visas — Residence permits
Where to live for it
Fibre coverage and commute times to a hub are the two variables. The band through Osu, Cantonments, Dzorwulu, Airport Residential and East Legon has the best of both and costs accordingly.