If you have limited experience traveling internationally, you may not realize that going to another country often isn’t as simple as flashing your passport at the customs gate. Most nations require some visitors to obtain a visa that lets them enter for a specific purpose and duration before crossing the border.
Whether you need a visa or can skip that step depends largely on the country that issued your passport. For instance, those with a passport from Afghanistan can access only 22 destinations — about 10% of the world — without a visa, the smallest share of any country.
To determine which countries are on the other end of the spectrum — those with the most “powerful” passports — Henley & Partners recently looked at visa-free access for 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations. (The investment migration consultancy considers countries that offer visas on arrival as visa-free destinations.) Its rankings are based on exclusive data provided by the International Air Transport Authority.
According to the latest annual Henley Passport Index, the following are the most useful passports, offering visa-free access to the most countries in the world. Due to several ties, 21 nations make up the top five spots of the index.
Spoiler alert: You won’t find the U.S. passport here — the USA tied with Iceland for the No. 10 spot, with both nations offering visa-free access to 180 destinations.
Singapore
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 192
Singapore is a city, a country and an island, all rolled into one. Located near Malaysia in Southeast Asia, it has one of the world’s most competitive economies, according to the World Bank Group.
Beyond a powerful economy, this country has a powerful passport that provides visa-free access to the most destinations of any country in the world.
Japan
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 188
Japan comes in second behind Singapore as having the most useful passport in the world. It will give holders easy admittance to 188 places around the globe. Could that be one reason why this island nation in East Asia is also a landing spot for some of the world’s millionaires?
South Korea
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 188
The eastern Asian country of South Korea — officially called the Republic of Korea — is home to more than a powerhouse passport.
It is also the headquarters of electronics company Samsung, which is poised to build the world’s largest semiconductor complex. Once completed, it will manufacture critical electronics components to be used across the globe.
United Arab Emirates
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 188
The United Arab Emirates has posted the biggest gain of any passport in the index’s 20-year history, adding 153 visa-free destinations since 2006. It’s also home to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest hubs for international travel.
The UAE ties with South Korea for the world’s second most powerful passport.
Sweden
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 187
Sweden is the birthplace of IKEA and Spotify. It also ranks No. 2 in the world on the Global Innovation Index, trailing only Switzerland.
Belgium
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Belgium hosts the headquarters of both the European Union and NATO, making Brussels one of the world’s most important diplomatic hubs. It’s also famous for its chocolate, waffles and more beer varieties than almost any other country.
Belgium ties for the fourth most powerful passport with the next 10 countries in Henley & Partners’ ranking.
Denmark
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Denmark is home to Lego and to Maersk, one of the world’s largest container shipping companies. It’s also one of the least corrupt countries on earth, according to Transparency International.
Finland
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Given that they live somewhere consistently ranked as one of the happiest places on earth, Finnish people might not feel the need to leave their country. But if they do, their passport will give them plenty of options.
France
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
France, slightly smaller than Texas, offers its citizens a peerless passport good for easy travel to 186 global destinations. Workers here also get 30 days of paid vacation per year, so they probably have an easier time planning trips abroad than many of us. C’est la vie.
Germany
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Living in Germany comes with such perks as access to low-tuition and tuition-free universities.
And if you’re a citizen, you can apply for one of the most powerful passports in the world. It provides visa-free access to 186 destinations, tying for fourth with Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, and five others.
Ireland
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Ireland’s low corporate tax rate has made it a European home base for major tech and pharmaceutical companies, including Google and Pfizer. That corporate presence helps give Ireland one of the highest GDP-per-capita figures in the world, though economists note it’s inflated by multinational accounting rather than typical household wealth.
Italy
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Italy attracts tourists from around the globe who flock to cities such as Venice, Naples and Rome. Residents of the Mediterranean nation who want to escape the crowds will find their Italian passport gains them easy access to 186 countries worldwide.
Luxembourg
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Luxembourg’s economy is tiny, but its GDP per capita is among the highest in the world, thanks largely to its outsized banking and financial services sector.
Netherlands
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Despite its small size, the Netherlands is the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural products by value, behind only the United States. It’s also famously bike-friendly, with more bicycles than people.
Norway
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Norway built the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund from decades of North Sea oil profits, now worth more than $2 trillion. That’s roughly $350,000 for every citizen, on paper.
Spain
Number of travel destinations this country’s passport grants access to: 186
Home to more than 48 million people, Spain sits on Europe’s Iberian Peninsula and has coastlines on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The country had the distinction of being the most visited place in the world in 2021. All those travelers are undoubtedly good for the economy, but residents who are feeling overrun might want to pick up their passport and go on holiday themselves.
Other powerful passports
Passports from the following five countries grant access to 185 travel destinations, meaning they tied for fifth place in Henley & Partners’ ranking:
- Austria
- Greece
- Malta
- Portugal
- Switzerland
The United States tied with Iceland at the No. 10 spot in the rankings. The passports of both nations grant access to 180 destinations.
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