When traveling between different countries, a passport is required to gain access and cross the country’s borders. The purpose of a passport is to show other nations that you are a legal citizen of a particular nation.  The difference between a visa and a passport is: a visa specifies certain reasons why you will be staying in the country. It also specifies a certain time frame for which you can stay in a country. Most of the time, visas are granted to people who work or plan to attend school in a nation for a select amount of time. Visa is a supplement to the passport, since both are required at the same time. The visa is usually extended to about six months. People can request that their visa be extended in certain circumstances, but there are usually strict requirements one must meet before getting a time extension. Just like passports, a travel insurance policy is recommended in case the paperwork is misplaced.

The strength of a passport is said to be good when citizen of a country is eligible to travel to other countries without a visa. This implies that passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, an electronic travel authority, or a visitor’s permit when entering the destination country.  The strength is also based upon a country’s rank on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index; it shows that economically vibrant countries citizens can travel unhindered across borders.

One such index of showing power a passport is the Henley Passport Index which is drawn on the most meticulous and sophisticated measure of global access. It goes beyond a simple ranking of passports to provide you with an in-depth picture of your travel freedom, including which countries you can access with which type of visa, how your passport has changed over the last 14 years, how your passport is compared to other passports in the world, why your passport has the level of access it does, and which additional passports would improve your mobility.

The HPI is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information enhanced by the Henley & Partners Research Department. With expert annotations and historical data spanning over 15 years, the Henley Passport Index is a precious resource for global citizens and is a standard reference tool for governments in this field. The Henley Passport Index is the only passport index that is based on IATA data, which is extensively researched and supported by expert commentary.  

The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens. It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI) and was modified and renamed in January 2018. The site provides a ranking of the 199 countries passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free. The HPI consists of a ranking of passports according to how many other territories can be reached ‘visa-free.’ All distinct destination countries and territories in the IATA database are considered. However, since not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports to be ranked than destinations against which queries are made.

Methodology of HPI Index:

1. Each of the 199 passports for which the score is to be determined, is checked against every one of the 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database. The research interrogation continues throughout the year and therefore the rankings continuously change.

2. Each inquiry is made based on these conditions: a) which country is the passport issuer? b) Passport holders are adult citizen of the country which issued the passport and a lone traveler rather than in a tourist group c) whether entry is sought for tourism or business and d) the stay is at least three days.

3. Further conditions are included: a) queries are made only for holders of normal passports rather than diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports and other travel documents are disregarded b) passport holders do not meet any complex requirements for entry (for example, possessing a government-issued letter, translations, or empty pages) c) passport holders have all necessary vaccinations and certificates d) passport holders are arriving at and departing from the same airport e) passport holders are seeking a short stay rather than a transit f) the port of entry is a major city or capital g) requirements by the destination country or territory regarding a particular length of validity of passports are disregarded h) passport holders meet all basic requirements for entry (for example, holding a hotel reservation or having proof of sufficient funds or return tickets) i) advance passenger information and advance approval to board are not considered to be a visa requirement or travel restriction, neither is the requirement to pay airport tax and j) It is assumed that the visa policies of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are identical to Denmark.

4. If no visa is required for passport holders from a particular country or territory to enter the destination, then that passport scores 1 (one) score. The passport also scores 1 (one) if a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) can be obtained because they do not require pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.

5. Countries in which visas are needed, or where passport holders have to get government-approved electronic visas (e-Visas) before departure score 0 (zero). If passport holders must get government approval before leaving in order to obtain a visa on arrival, this also scores 0 (zero).

6. The total score for a particular passport is then assigned according to the conditions defined above.

As of 2020, the Japanese passport ranks at top because it offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 191 countries, a Singapore passport offers its holders 190 countries, and the South Korean passport and German passport each offer 189 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries to their holders. The Afghan passport has once again been labeled by the index as the weakest passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 26 destinations visa-free.

The Indian passport ranked 84th in the world in 2020; it ranked higher in both 2019 (82nd) and 2018 (81st).

The Henley Passport Index website provides comprehensive, printable lists of the countries you can access visa-free, with an electronic visa (e-Visa), with a visa on arrival, or with a normal visa. It also allows you to compare the strength of passports and understand how you might improve your travel freedom with alternative citizenship. Visit henleypassportindex.com to view the global ranking and find out more about increasing your passport power.

About Citizenship-by-Investment: Residence and citizenship-by-investment programs enable nations to grant residence or citizenship rights to individuals in exchange for a substantial investment.

Citizenship-by-investment refers to the process whereby qualified and carefully background checked candidates are granted full citizenship in exchange for their significant economic contribution to the passport-issuing state. Residence-by-investment refers to a similar process, but candidates in this case are granted temporary residence, which can be extended to permanent residence or, in some cases, citizenship at a later stage.

For individuals, the key benefits of holding an alternative passport include extended travel mobility, access to business and educational opportunities on a global scale, ease of asset diversification, and improved safety and security in a rapidly changing world. For the host countries, the foreign direct investment secured through these programs creates both sovereign and societal value. Debt-free liquidity is added into the economy, resulting in additional capital flows both to the public sector encouraging fiscal autonomy, diversifying the economy, and creating employment opportunities. For the private sector the benefits come in the form of investments in existing enterprises, infrastructure, start-ups, and real estate.

At present residence and citizenship-by-investment programs are run in nearly 100 countries around the world, which includes more than 70% of EU member states.