The Henley Visa Restrictions Index ranks Finland, Sweden and Britain as the countries having the most convenient passports. The citizens of each enjoy free access to 173 countries and territories around the world. The ROC, meanwhile, ranks 25th.
Among Asian countries, Japan ranks highest at joint fourth, with visa-free access to 170 nations. Singapore comes in at joint sixth (167 countries); South Korea ranks seventh (166), Hong Kong joint 14th (152), Taiwan joint 25th (130), and mainland China joint 82nd (44).
Henley & Partners, a residence and citizenship planning consultancy, conducted the survey behind the index, which was released on July 1. The survey looked at the number of visa-free countries open to travel for the holders of passports from the world’s 219 countries and territories. Nine of the top ten nations were in the European Union, and the other country was the United States. Generally speaking, EU and American citizens can travel to more than 170 nations without a visa. Wracked by war, Iraq and Afghanistan ranked last at 92nd and 93rd, just as they did in last year’s index.
The British newspaper The Independent noted that most nations grant easy access to the citizens of wealthy nations, but those wealthy nations don’t necessarily reciprocate. Three-fourths of the world’s population is required to apply for a visa ahead of time to visit Europe. The 1.2 billion citizens of India, for instance, enjoy visa-free travel to only 52 of the world’s nations.
The number of countries to which a nation’s citizens are granted visa-free entry represents not only their level of international welcome, but also that country’s status among all the nations of the world.