A girl who I have been corresponding with says she needs a declaration fee to leave Ghana. Is this a real fee?

I asked for a copy of a girl's passport how do I know that it is real

You can't know. Most forgeries are so good that they even fool officials.

Your title says "Dating scam in Ghana". I'm guessing that you want to verify who you're chatting with, and I'm also guessing that she's asking for money.

Your title says it all. It's a scam. Ghana is very well known for it's dating scams. Just Google and then prepare to sit and read for weeks all the scams attributed to Ghana.

Bottom line, if she (if it's a she) is asking for money, it's a scam.

Unless you talk to her face to face, you'll never even know if the pictures she sends are really her. It could be, and often is, a guy posing as a girl. There are offices set up, desks side by side, of people perpetuating this scam. It usually starts with a lot of flirting, then quickly turns to saying they love you, then they ask for money so they can get a passport, or leave the country and be with you. You can send money, but every time you do, something new will come up and they need money to fix it, and until you give them the money, they can't leave and be with you.

People have literally spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on people they claim love them, and they love. They're all scams. They steal photos of people that are attractive and use them to scam you. They come up with a story to pull you in. Then they ask for money.

Tell her no and see how quickly she either gets mad, or stops talking to you all together so she can move on to someone that will pay. If it's even a she.

No, it's not.

There is no declaration fee. There is no travel allowance fee. The cost of a ghana passport and a US visa, is under 300 USD.

The good scamers are professional business, that can produce documents that look better than the original. If she has asked for this fee, it is a scam.

Also in the big companies that do this, they have staffs of dozens of people, working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with prepared scripts to cover anything you may say. In mere text messages, you may talk to several different people, who answer

They then have special girls hired, who do the phone calls or the video messages.

Be sure to read"similar questions" . These are scams!