Considering all the current COVID-19 travel restrictions, the UAE tops Arton Capital’s Passport Index with visa-free access to 160 destinations.
When taking coronavirus-related border closures into account, a United Arab Emirates passport is currently the most powerful passport in the world, with visa-free or visa-upon-arrival access to 160 destinations. This makes it the strongest in the world, according to Arton Capital’s Passport Index, a ranking of the world’s passports in order of the number of destinations their holders can access without obtaining a visa prior to arrival.
After slipping down the rankings in recent years, the UAE has made an impressive comeback in 2022. The lifting of COVID-19 border closures is one reason, but the UAE also got a boost thanks to subsidizing country pavilions at the Expo 2020 Dubai for lower-income nations in exchange for visa-free agreements.
Sweden, Finland, and Italy trail behind the UAE in joint second place with visa-free access to 153 destinations currently. Third place is a 10-way tie among Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, and New Zealand with access to 152 destinations each. Afghanistan and Iraq are currently at the bottom of the rankings at 89th place with access to only 34 destinations. Syria ranked only slightly higher with access to 35 destinations.
After taking in account COVID-19 travel restrictions, 2022’s most powerful passports in the world are:
1. United Arab Emirates (160 destinations)
2. Sweden, Finland, Italy (153 destinations)
5. Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, New Zealand (152 destinations)
15. Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Poland, Australia (151 destinations)
20. Malta, Czech Republic, Hungary, United Kingdom, Ireland (150 destinations)
Sven Franssen