The world’s most powerful passports for January 2021

Which passport is ruling the world right now? The new listing has been published.

Henley & Partners, international citizenship and residential consulting firm has released its quarterly report on the world’s most desired and powerful passport. Japan has once again topped the 2021 Global Passport Index as holders can access visa-free access to 191 locations worldwide.  Singapore is at no.2 position in this race whose holders can travel to 190 destinations around the world without a visa. Surprisingly, the Asian countries top the list with South Korea, Singapore, and Japan stand together as the world’s three passports in the top 10.

Most powerful passports of the world list

As expected, the European countries are all around dint the list. Some very rich Asian countries have also made it to the list. European countries, USA, Canada, and Australia have been top ranking in the listing for a long time now. Except for UAE, there has been no country that has made a significant increase in the rankings.

Japan has the most powerful passport

The latest rankings were introduced based on the range of locations holders can access barring a visa. Japan once again topped the list with 191 points. This means that Japanese passport holders can travel to 191 locations worldwide with visa-free, or visa-on-arrival facilities. The index does not however take into account temporary restrictions.

Surprising Singapore’s passport strength

On the other hand, with a score of 190, Singapore’s passport is the second most effective in the world. The Singapore passport is legitimate for 5 years for those who were issued it after April 1, 2005, while the passport is valid for 10 years for those who have had issued it before that date.

South Korea and Germany (the toppers as ever)

South Korea is in the third location with Germany (with a score of 189). In third place, another Asian country is now together sharing a European country. These two nations acquired a whole of 189 points.

The European supremacy through Passport’s strength

Four European countries are in fourth place, all of them have obtained 188 points. The 4 nations beat Denmark and Austria, which is ranked fifth. The United States and New Zealand are ranked seventh, while Canada is ranked ninth. With 187 points, the two countries are ranked fifth for the world’s most powerful passport. They defeated Sweden, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Ireland, who completed joint number six. Just below the top 10, New Zealand ranks seventh with visa-free access to 185 places, while Australia ranks eighth with access to 184 places. The temporary travel restrictions mean that – while the United Kingdom and the United States are seventh on Henley’s listing – the truth that holders of US passports are currently eligible to travel to less than 75 destinations, while the United Kingdom Holders of passports have access to less than 70.

The best riser UAE has been significant as before. It signed a variety of bilateral visa waiver agreements last year, including a landmark settlement to establish formal relations with Israel and to grant visa-free access to residents of every country to other countries. How does the UAE rank sixteenth in the rankings with visa-free / visa arrivals to 173 destinations? When the index was launched in 2006, it was ranked 62nd, with only 35 access points of visa-free countries, but now its position has risen dramatically.

The current realities of traveling

Though the countries which are in the list of top 10 have access for u to 191 visa-free countries respectively, the ground realities are something else. The Covid-19 has almost made it impossible to travel to other countries for tourism or normal traveling purposes. Many countries have had traveling restrictions on such as Canada, the UK, the USA, etc. A good example can be the USA whose passports holders can currently travel to less than seventy-five locations due to epidemic restrictions. The current vaccine success has made it possible to think that soon the situation will start to get better and better and more countries will open their borders for traveling and tourism purposes.  

List of worst passport countries

At the other end of the spectrum, Afghanistan (26 visa-free or on arrival access countries) is the least powerful passport a passenger can hold, followed by Iraq (28), Syria (29), Pakistan (32), Somalia, and Yemen (33), and Palestine Regions (37), Libya, and Nepal (38) and North Korea (39). The countries in this list have been in the lowest positions for a long time. The main reason why their passports have not been able to perform well are:

• war effects
• economy downfall
• no more agreements with new countries for free visa access

These countries have even agreements with those countries which give access to almost all countries of the world. Pakistan is said to be the country among all, which is considered to be performing well in the near future.

The worth of the listing by Henly and Partners

The Henly and partners issue these listings quarterly. On the other hand, the passport index releases the listening as well. The list is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations. The listing does not cover all aspects of the passport’s worth. Only visa-free access is considered to be the factor for rating the countries. On the other hand, Arton Capital’s Passport Index takes into consideration the passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories, ROC Taiwan, Macau (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory, and the Vatican. Territories annexed to other countries are excluded. Its 2021 index puts Germany at the top, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 134. Henly & Partners and Passport Index must also take into account the other factors before giving the rating and listings. There are many poor countries in the world that are performing well but due to lack of visa-free access and agreement, they cannot make the passport’s worth better. It will be a great idea to issue two listings instead of one. The one could be for developed countries and the second for the developing countries passport strength list. This will also encourage the lower-ranked and emerging countries to make their passport more powerful. You can download here the complete list of passports rankings here.