Indian passport has visa-free access to 57 countries; Singapore's most powerful at 192

New Delhi, July 19

The strength of Indian passport moved up from 87th place in 2022 to 80th in 2023, giving its holders a visa-free access to 57 countries, the latest report put out by Henley and Partners showed.

The Henley Passport Index rankings are based on the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, largely based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). At 80th, the other two countries along with India are Senegal and Togo.

Meanwhile, Singapore has knocked off Japan off the top spot on the Henley Passport Index for the first time in five years, placing the latter into 3rd place, the report published on Tuesday said.

Singapore is now officially the most powerful passport in the world, with its citizens able to visit 192 travel destinations out of 227 around the world visa-free.

Germany, Italy, and Spain have moved up into 2ndplace with visa-free access to 190 destinations, and Japanese passport holders join those of six other nations Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Sweden in 3rdplace with access to189 destinations without a prior visa.

The UK has finally turned the corner after a six-year decline, jumping up two places on the latest ranking to 4thplace, a position it last held in 2017.

The US, on the other hand, continues its now decade-long slide down the index, plummeting a further two places to 8thspot with access to as many as 184 destinations visa-free. Both the UK and the US jointly held 1stplace on the index nearly 10 years ago in 2014 but have been on a downward trajectory ever since.

Of the countries sitting in the ‘Top 10’, the US has seen the smallest increase in its score on theHenley Passport Indexover the past decade, securing visa-free access to just 12 additional destinations between 2013 and 2023. Singapore, by comparison, has increased its score by 25, pushing it five places up the ranking over the past 10 years to number one spot.

Afghanistan remains at the bottom of theIndex, with a visa-free access of just 27, followed by Iraq (29), and Syria (30), the three weakest passports in the world.

The general trend over the history of the 18-year-old ranking has been towards greater travel freedom, with the average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2023.

However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access 165 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.

Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley and Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, said only eight countries worldwide have less visa-free access today than they did a decade ago while others have been more successful in securing greater travel freedom for their citizens.

The UAE has added an impressive 107 destinations to its visa-free score since 2013, resulting in a massive leap of 44 places in the ranking over the past 10 years from 56thto 12thposition. This is almost double the next biggest climber, Colombia, which has enjoyed a jump of 28 places in the ranking to sit in 37thspot, Kaelin added.

Ukraine and China are also among the Top 10 countries with the most improved rankings over the past decade.

Far more than just a travel document that defines our freedom of movement, a strong passport also provides significant financial freedoms in terms of international investment and business opportunities. Global connectivity and access have become indispensable features of wealth creation and preservation, and its value will only grow as geopolitical volatility and regional instability increase.

Coming to the most open countries, the ‘Top 20’ are all small island nations or African states, except for Cambodia.

There are 12 completely open countries that offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to all 198 passports in the world (not counting their own) — Burundi, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.

At the bottom of the Henley Openness Index, four countries score zero, permitting no visa-free access for any passport—Afghanistan, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, and Turkmenistan.

They are followed by five countries that provide visa-free access to fewer than five other nationalities—Libya, Bhutan, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, and India, the report said.