This is the Most Powerful Passport to Have in 2022
The world’s most powerful passport is from two countries.
Travel can be stressful, especially when you want to travel to another country. However, if you have the most powerful passport globally, you can easily travel through borders and checkpoints. It helps open the doors, offers access to healthcare, and provides the right to work and study abroad if you have the right country of citizenship.
The world’s best passport honours were shared between Japan and Singapore this year. South Korea and Germany were second, and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain were all in the third position. Australia came in seventh, while New Zealand was sixth.
Understanding Henley Passport Index
The rankings that help define the most powerful passport are decided by a renowned organization that tracks passport power worldwide, Henley Passport Index. This Index was developed using historical data and commentary for over 17 years and offered a ranking of the world’s passports according to the number of destinations the passport holders can access without a prior visa.
The information present in the Index is based on official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). For those unaware, the IATA harbors the world’s largest database of travel information. It also compares visa-free access of 199 different passports and 227 travel destinations.
The Points System
A point system is used to decide the Index and the most powerful passport rankings. If no visa is needed, a score of value equalling one is created for that passport. The same applies if a person can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or even an Electronic Travel Authority or ETA when entering a country.
Where a visa is needed, or a passport holder needs to obtain an e-visa before departure, a score equalling value 0 is assigned. 0 also applies if a person must have pre-departure government approval for a visa on arrival.
After assigning the numbers, the list of the most powerful passports is created. For instance, if a passport allows free travel between 50 nations with no visa, the score of that passport will be 50 points.
Given the current Ukraine-Russia war, the value of Russian passports has reduced significantly, and the value of Ukrainian passports has increased, according to the most powerful passports list.
From there, the total score is calculated for each passport, equal to the number of destinations for which no visa is required (value = 1). For example, a passport that allows free travel between 40 countries with no visa is required will score 40 points.
According to Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept that helps decide the most powerful passports, “As the value of the Russian passport rapidly declines, and the world opens its doors to Ukrainians, it is abundantly clear that the passport you hold determines your fate and dramatically impacts the opportunities you have. While it is impossible to predict what the world will look like in the shadow of a new Cold War, the latest Index suggests that the divide between Russia and much of the Western world will only increase.”
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