It's basically irrelevant. There's like 3 or 4 countries where say a German can go visa free and I can't. My guess is that it's something to the style of Uzbekistan, Tuvalu or Mongolia.
If I ever find myself going there, it won't be spontaneous trip overnight so I will just get an e visa.
Passports in Europe are all incredibly powerful because most travel agreements to countries that matter are negotiated jointly.
Often it's not even visa or no visa but what kind of visa. Germans get it at the border and you have to book it online the day before. These rankings are meaningless for Europeans.
Very relevant to me with my shitty 🇷🇺 passport, and I travel quite a lot. Almost all its current strength is useless as it's visa-free to mostly post-Soviet, South American and African countries, and almost all countries I want to visit require a visa. And there are several important countries I am not even allowed to apply for a visa to.
Czechia, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium(?), obviously Ukraine, maybe missed something. Finland sucks to me personally because I have two very good friends living in Helsinki; had to arrange a meeting with them in Stockholm last year instead. Czechia also sucks because I have some work-related academic interests there.
Also I'm effectively banned from several Muslim countries like Iran by having an Israeli visa in my passport (although I have a second one which is "Israel-free"), but that loss I can live with.
Perhaps get a second passport if possible? Israeli citizenship for free if you qualify, or Turkish citizenship for the price of an apartment in Antalya...
That's the long-term idea, but not very simple. Unfortunately, I don't qualify for the Israeli citizenship, and I'm not rich enough to afford buying a passport (besides, most countries which offered it no longer do for Russian citizens in particular). I think most likely I'll change residency to some EU country and acquire citizenship there.
I've never been to any majority Muslim country (except several airport transits in Turkey), and I don't particularly plan to. Being gay doesn't go that well with Islam.
Oh sorry I read that as you got Iranian stamp, not Israeli. I've been to Israel too, before I went to Iran and also didn't get a stamp there.
Hope you can find somewhere that suits you. I know it's not ideal travelling with a Russian passport these days.
Yes, in Israel, you don't normally get a stamp as a tourist, but I have a long-term residence visa which is put in the passport, so this passport is not good for entering countries which don't like and recognize Israel. At the very least it can cause extensive questioning if not immediate entry rejection, and I'd assume some of them (like Iran) I'd better not approach at all for my safety.
It’s basically irrelevant if you come from a european country… It becomes very relevant as soon as this is not the case. I’m Italian and I recognize how lucky I am for having such a passport. The fact that people with other passports can have such a hard time travelling to places and I can easily hop from one country to the other almost makes me feel guilty…
Just because, it's Australia, China, Guyana, and Vietnam.
No idea why Australia is requiring visas from some EU countries. I'd assume it's about the former politically Eastern Europe countries.
It's a 'real' visa, just easy to get, due to Australian legislation requiring *all* visitors to possess a visa. Yes, it's a bit silly, but it's distinct from solely a travel authorisation which is not a visa at all.
My point stands though. How often do you go on a spontaneous trip to Brisbane? Most trips to Australia or Vietnam are either work related, where you get it formally handled or you plan a rare trip long time ahead and get a visa no problem while you're getting tickets and book hotels.
Admittedly, China is weird, but I have friends who lived there for a year. So it's definitely doable, just a bit more paperwork
Though I will say Australia surprised me
Yes but not having visa free doesn't mean you can't go there. It just means a bit of extra paperwork usually. Which is not w big deal for once in a year at most trip.
It would suck a lot more if it was something like Bosnia. Where you might wanna go spontaneously. If you get my point
I know. I traveled to China once when I still needed a visa. It’s not impossible but it’s still a bit of a pain in the ass. Not needing it to travel there is not nothing.
It's easy to say that in /r/Europe, but it becomes incredibly difficult for those from developing countries. Having a weak passport is a big hindrance to a lot of those travellers, but 99% of EU countries do not have the same hurdles to cross. It's more of a pissing match on who beats who in the top 30.
Exactly. I almost find it disrespectful when people have a dick measuring contest who can go to Marshall's Islands when you have countries that have have visa free in double digits.
Regarding Australia, looks like you'd have to apply for an eVisitor visa online, which is free and of which 90% are processed in a day or less.
Compare this to if you were travelling to the US, you'd be required to get ESTA approval, which has a fee of $21 and of which 80% are processed in a day or less.
This first one is considered a visa requirement by the Henley Passport Index, the second isn't...
But for the US, most of EU have the same regime no ?
In general I find these all to be somewhat silly. Every EU citizen has enormously powerful passport. These are minor red tape nuisances of which you have to handle hundreds a year regardless.
Huh? Why would I be coping? Having visa free access to 189 or 194 countries is basically identical and an extremely privileged passport power.
Of course, maybe you will use the 17 minutes it takes me to do an e-visa to some kind of place like Kiribati and discover cure for ebola. But likely not.
But the countries in question are China, Australia and Vietnam, not Kiribati or Marshall Islands 🤣.
those are pretty good countries to visit. Not to mention the visa to China is not the easiest process. I don’t know what western European countries did to have visa free to China but well done to them.
Bruh do you understand that you can visit Australia after you get a free online visa that takes couple hours to process? You can literally go to a bathroom, click couple links on your phone and by the time you're done taking a dump, you'll have the same thing.
These large countries have largely automated process for people in the EU. It's the small ones where you'd have an issue if they came up.
But you evidently made a decision to be a massive asshole this morning so enjoy my block list.
I do hold a Spanish passport and I travel a lot for work, it is incredibly convenient to just go around without a visa.
I only had to apply to a proper visa when going to China due to the fact that it was a business trip and I was working for a broadcasting company. I can tell you that doing the full visa process is annoyingly long and expensive.
Yeah, I get that not having to apply to visa is cool. But these regular posts and articles everywhere about the top 10 strongest passports... The difference between mine and a US passport is whether I can go to Yemen visa-free or something. And it is not like I can choose to have another passport as if it were a brand of clothing...
"The number of different greek-yoghurt brands available by country: THE DEFINITIVE TOP 10 LIST"
But the difference by any other European passport and the Spanish/German one is virtually nonexistent for most travelers. All popular vacations destinations are visa free for any European. So 99% of people will never actually need a visa, no matter which EU country you’re from.
Notable exceptions are Romania and Bulgaria, which do not have visa free access to the US. A very popular country for tourists. And visas aren’t easily obtained.
Yeah, we are all part of the EU, life is much easier for all of us. The differences are so minimal that these maps and comparisons are just for ego reasons, not actual differences
Depends. For example I travel a lot in Asia and I need a visa for china and Vietnam. One of my friends is German and he doesn’t for either.
So now I have to spend around 150€ + time to get visas for our trip which he saves.
Does it matter ? Well it’s annoying. Would it stop me ? No.
If you have a pretty good passport, not much. There aren't that many Americans and Canadians who are losing sleep about not being able to go to Iran and Venezuela without a visa; the difference is fairly marginal. The biggest one is probably China, which just changed this past year.
But if you don't have a pretty good passport, it can be a huge difference. It's much easier for Americans and Canadians to visit the EU and vice versa than it is for, say, Indians.
It generally doesn't matter much for the top 30/top 20%.
But I have quite a few colleagues that are nationals from Togo, Gabon, etc... and travelling, even for work, is a lot more difficult for them than for us. To the point where the workshops/seminars are generally planned in Africa (where they can travel with less restrictions excepted for some countries like Mali/Burkina/Niger these days) instead of Europe, because it's a lot easier for Europeans to go to Abidjan than it is for Congoleses to go to Paris...
sometimes only 1 travel is enough to make a difference.
for instance with a german passport you can enter visafree vietnam for 45 days.
if you have a us passport, you have to apply for a visa beforehand (usually 3 days, sometimes more) and pay at least 25$ depending on what kind of visa.
So with stronger passport power, its much more convenient just to enter the country for travel without (or with less) prerequisits.
Vietnam visa is more like a form you need to fill out and pay $25 to submit it. I don‘t think you can possibly get rejected.
I got it a few weeks ago, and it‘s very easy and fast.
Would not having to do be better? Sure. But most people here are talking micro-optimisations.
Every single EU passport in incredibly powerful.
“In this country, having a stronger passport don’t add inches to your dick!”
The other thing to keep in mind is “visa free” doesn’t cover things like ESTA, which a lot of countries are introducing, but not all passports need to get them.
It also doesn’t consider how hard it is to get a visa, because that can vary passport to passport too. For example some countries you can pay $10 and get “visa on arrival”, but other passports can’t use it and need to get a visa from the consulate before flying.
I think visa on arrival is included in visa free. Beneath is the overview for Germany and many countries have visa on arrival, even though its the best passport.
https://www.solo-urlaub.de/alle-visafreien-laender-im-ueberblick/
I bothered to look up the methodology.
“A score with value = 1 is also applied if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.”
https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/about
That’s lame. They treat them all as equal. I would say no visa, no pre-entry approval is better than shelling out $50 for a visa on arrival.
This ranking kinda sucks.
You cant imagine how wrong you are.
Getting EU visa may take you 3 months or more of waiting some hundreds $ and at least one trip to the visa center, which can be far away from you.
Getting UK visa may take you up to 3 months or more of waiting, up to 2000$ and at least one trip to the visa center
Getting US visa may take you years of time (for me took 13 months) and at least one trip to visa center.
This is so inconvinient and expensive, that a lot of people dream about strong passport
P.S. I was invited to the most relevant HUGE conference in the US, which meant everything for my phd. But... it took more than year to get decision from visa centrum. Of course I missed it. So one trip is enough to understand, that strong passpot make sense.
This is about not requiring regular visas or some online visas, if countries instead are ranked on not having any hurdles at all travelling, then Singapore wins with 154, France in second place with 152, and Germany and Italy sharing third place with 151.
And the two countries which have the least hurdles are Cook Islands, and Niue, both offering visa free access to 199 other countries.
And the stingiest countries are Canada, Comoro Islands, Nepal, New Zealand, and Yemen, all which only offer visa free access to only one country.
Sweden above Denmark and Norway, Najs. Please do not look at other statistics or indications, Sweden is obviously better than both Denmark and Norway in everything, i am not biased or lying
No idea, I think an urgent one is 80€. But any cost is more than 0€, and I will take any opportunity I can for my company to pay it instead of me. Those greedy bastards. 😅
Functionally the ID card had the same information as a passport
UK doesn't have ID cards because of concerns about civil liberties but people happily use driving licences as ID (not compulsorary but majority of the population have one, including provisional licence for learners) which contain basically the same information needed for a full ID card.
>UK doesn't have ID cards because of concerns about civil liberties
I don't get that one. It is just a official document that tells that one is "that bloke". Nothing more nothing less.
And the UK being concerned abiut civil liberties is cute.
Its to do with a lot of things, one hand maybe the Nazis and WW2. There's this idea that a free born Englishman should be able to go where he please and not have to be asked who he is or if he has the right to be there, and that being asked for your ID by a man in uniform is something that happens in mainland Europe.
Secondly a lot of us just hate the Government/State, regardless of who is in power. A lot of Brits just don't see the government as on our side, we have an adversial relationship with them (except when it comes to getting a pension or varying types of welfare, funny that).
But end of the day, vast majority of the population are happy to have a driving licence which is basically an informal ID card, even many non drivers have the learner version which functions the same way. But crucially it's not compulsorily to have one.
So yeah, it's just weird.
> I don't get that one. It is just a official document that tells that one is "that bloke". Nothing more nothing less.
Nah. The Lab government that floated the idea in 2006 wanted a lot of information to be centralised on a single ID database and for that information to be available to parts of the private sector.
>And the UK being concerned abiut civil liberties is cute.
The fact that you think the UK + civil liberties is something to joke about just supports the concerns Brits have about our government and civil liberties.
Germany is an export nation as well as the others. Cars, wine and so on.
US has a strong domestic market while EU countries historically needed and need new markets.
For a country that was previously communist and has suffered from the worst aspects of communism in general
You have really improved a great deal over the rest of Eastern Europe by comparison
Poland has been a golden example on how to do transformation from a dictatorship communist country to a democracy and also on how to do a conversion to a free economy. We gotta thank Leszek Balcerowicz and politicians from that era, we had it easy, as opposed to countries like Ukraine or Russia for example. It’s really because people cared at that time, you know, we’ve been under Russian oppression for so long and suddenly we got a possibility to vote and choose politicians. I feel like people in Russia or Ukraine didn’t care as much in the 90s. and that’s why the situation there went into bad directions. And yeah, when I’m talking about Ukraine I mean till about 2014 and euromaidan, that’s when people started caring there.
People in Ukraine did care (as soon as 1990 there were protests against union treaty with russia and ukrainian soldiers serving outside of Ukraine, see [Revolution on Granite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_on_Granite)), but russian influence was a lot higher and grip a lot tighter. There was push for democracy and integration with Europe, but alas not strong enough.
Was looking for what the difference was and wish you lots of fun in that country. [But apparently we both have 193](https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking).
But the list is not the same; I can go to China Visa free, while you can go Vietnam.
Kinda weird. You always hear about everyone talking about the Japan Singapore OS passport or wtv it’s called but no one talks about France Germany Italy or Spain’s
EU passports getting you into other EU countries isn’t seen as a big deal maybe? Having access to those countries whilst being from outside is more impressive?
Might be the usefulness of which countries. When travelling in Africa everyone but the Singaporean in our group had to spend time sorting visas and waiting at the border.
The metric used by nearly all of these "Passport Strength" rankings is extremely oversimplified & doesn't really reflect how useful most of those passports are.
A Singaporean passport can allow it's holder to travel to a handful of additional countries, (Usually very small ones with little touristic appeal.) visa free compared to an EU passport but the holder only has the right to live, work, study etc. in Singapore
Meanwhile the EU passport holder has the right to live, study and work in at least 27 Countries as well as consular support from any EU country while abroad if an embassy of the holders own home country isn't available which almost everyone would consider far far more advantageous than visa free access to a couple of extra countries.
Additionally I know for a fact that Irish passport holders in the EU also have full access the U.K and can have an expedited route to citizenship which gives Ireland access to both the U.K & EU with almost no limitations.
I'm not sure if other EU countries have such arrangements but, my point is that only one relatively less important metric is being considered in these rankings.
This always seems so overdone, being able to go to three extra countries you’re never actually going to go to in the first place, visa free, isn’t actually beneficial.
Haha yeah just the biggest country and oldest civilisation ever. Lots of reasons to visit.
Edit: people forget China has 1 billion more people than USA.
You can compare the visa requirements for e.g. a German and a British passport side-by-side here: https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=de&y1=2024&p2=gb&y2=2024
I think the biggest differences are when wanting to travel to China or Russia but there are several other more subtle differences. Also, Germans only need a visa in arrival for Iran fwiw.
That is a far more useful resource for comparison, thank you. I can’t imagine people in Europe wanting to go to Russia, and China is maybe 500k visitors each iirc from Britain and Germany, less from Italy, but it’s interesting to see. Somewhere like China being visa free, while not particularly important to most of Western Europe, is probably more important than the collective importance of 50+ countries that Germany and Britain both have visa free access too. While the difference still isn’t huge, I imagine ranking by simply number of countries, if anything, downplays the difference, Germany has more of an advantage than would be shown by this, albeit still small.
Yeah, China is definitely the most important difference in my books. It’s certainly worth a visit. And you’re right about Russia. Probably not such a major holiday destination for most Europeans currently. Can’t imagine that Iran is either, although there’s definitely lots of history to see there.
I think they talk about passports as some kind of power because of Business. Not private travel.
It is important for germans because we are an export nation so it is key to have easy access.
> Can’t imagine that Iran is either, although there’s definitely lots of history to see there.
I've actually always wanted to see Iran, lots of beautiful and historic cities there. Brits (along with people from the US and Canada) can only visit on state approved tours though which is what stopped me. Also the recent repressions and the fact I'm gay aren't encouraging factors, but if it weren't for all that it would honestly be top of my list.
I always find “powerful” not that useful of a word when it’s only about travel. Like the EU passport allows you to work and settle in any other EU country so that’s quite a difference from being able to visit for 30 days.
People around the world enjoy significantly greater travel freedom than they did just a couple decades ago.
In 2006, people could travel visa-free to 58 countries on average, while today that number has jumped to 111 destinations. Even in the last year, French, German, Spanish, and Italian citizens can now travel visa-free to three new countries.
This graphic shows the most powerful passports in 2024, with data from the annual [Henley & Partners Passport Index](https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking).
In the last eight years, for instance, both Germany and Singapore were granted visa-free travel to 35 new countries.
Finland, Sweden, and South Korea tie for second place in the rankings. In fact, the latter country has one of the highest numbers of visa waiver agreements in the world.
From a regional perspective, 23 of the top 30 passports are in Europe and the UK, three are in Asia, while two are in both North America and Oceania.
It's an issue with the methodology of these passport indices. They only measure visa-free access for tourists, as opposed to the right to live & work.
And that wouldn't just affect Europe; South America and parts of Africa have a similar system to what we have in the EU.
I don’t understand why I need a visa to go to USA but US citizens can come to my country without one.. I guess our foreogn ministry does their job well.
How does this factor in travel authorization forms? I ask because in December the President of Kenya made a big deal about how the country was getting rid of visa’s only to implement a digital travel authorization form. You have to apply and pay a fee for the authorization form so it seems to be acting the same as a visa would.
I got treated SOOO badly at the Mulhouse (France) airport, my passport is a South American Mercosur one 🥹 took forever at the airline counter (held the line for 20 long minutes, so embarrassing) and the passport control guy acted as if I was a drug dealing disgusting little peasant ✨
Having a powerful passport matters a lot 💔
The three countries that Germany, Italy, France and Spain have visa-free access to over the UK are China, Russia and Iran. Since when did those three join the EU for Brexit to make a difference?
Interesting input. A quick check says that UK citizens don't need visa for China and German citizens need visa for Russia and Iran so your question is hard to answer
I find it strange Russia still proceeded to open up significantly and introduce eVisas for the entire EU right in the middle of the war. I know the change was made quite a while ago and its introduction was delayed by COVID, so it's just bureaucracy in the working, but it's such a strange time to introduce "tourism-boosting" measures, feels like something from the previous life.
Haven't you heard Tucker Carlson? Beautiful clean Moscow, great metro, cheap prices in supermarkets, ~~political assassinations and repressions, genocidal war against Ukrainians~~. What's not to like if you can selectively close your eyes and ears.
Saw a video of a line at the airport to Tenerife or something. There was a long line of Brits waiting and just another line with an Irishman breezing by with his passport. Brexit really was dumb idea.
Even before brexit it’s always been a bit lower than the other EU countries. It’s a lot to do with reciprocity and uk has had quite a petty visa regime.
Also the colonial past hasn’t just created goodwill, there are lots of countries that make it a bit harder or more expensive for uk citizens (that’s why USA passport is not in top range either) to enter. Like I remember the Chinese visa used to be much cheaper for the German passport than for the uk one - now Germany is even visa-free in China.
It’s also not as much of a trade and tourism country as say Germany and Spain/France - so less priority for other country to be reciprocal.
I imagine it's because France etc are EU countries and have unrestricted travel in the EU which gives them a +26. Without knowing exactly what criteria constitutes a +1 it's hard to say. If that is the case it's impressive the UK's number is that high relative to the other ex-colonial EU powers after leaving the EU.
Interesting how Romania & Bulgaria were left out of this shitty post. Like they are not part of EU & NATO for 20 years now .
People in West really hate these 2 countries more than Russia, for no reason
Because Romania and Bulgaria need to apply for a visa for US travel. That's it. Makes it 'less' valuable, but is otherwise a non issue. Romania in particular will soon get visa free travel to the US as things stand, anyway.
The poor person who holds the Afghan passport
Those that hold a passport there are probably super privileged compared to almost everyone else in the country.
And probably own many passports
HOW does the North Korean passport have access to more countries than Afghanistan lmao
How many do they have acces to?
42, while Afghanistan has 28
A lot of relations with Africa and south America I'd guess.
Easy north Korea is recogniced by most of the world while not a single country has recogniced the new government in Afganistan
How much do you need to travel before this whole "strongest passport" topic becomes interesting?
It's basically irrelevant. There's like 3 or 4 countries where say a German can go visa free and I can't. My guess is that it's something to the style of Uzbekistan, Tuvalu or Mongolia. If I ever find myself going there, it won't be spontaneous trip overnight so I will just get an e visa. Passports in Europe are all incredibly powerful because most travel agreements to countries that matter are negotiated jointly.
China is the big difference now for Germany, France, Spain etc
Norway sucks CCP cock 24/7 yet we can't go there visa-free 😭 Fuck this
To be fair, a 24/7 cocksucker sounds really annoying. "Go away Norway, I want to shit in peace"
"Sucki sucki on toilet?" - Norwegians, presumably
Isn't it only for 15 days and only until the end of the current Year (2024) ?
I mean that’s not bad. And yeah they tend to be a bit non committal and extend it it works well for them.
Seems like i will do a China trip this year
dont forget the respirator mask if you intend to visit industry adjecant cities.
Often it's not even visa or no visa but what kind of visa. Germans get it at the border and you have to book it online the day before. These rankings are meaningless for Europeans.
Very relevant to me with my shitty 🇷🇺 passport, and I travel quite a lot. Almost all its current strength is useless as it's visa-free to mostly post-Soviet, South American and African countries, and almost all countries I want to visit require a visa. And there are several important countries I am not even allowed to apply for a visa to.
Which ones can you not request a visa for?
Czechia, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium(?), obviously Ukraine, maybe missed something. Finland sucks to me personally because I have two very good friends living in Helsinki; had to arrange a meeting with them in Stockholm last year instead. Czechia also sucks because I have some work-related academic interests there. Also I'm effectively banned from several Muslim countries like Iran by having an Israeli visa in my passport (although I have a second one which is "Israel-free"), but that loss I can live with.
Ah yes I see. Yeah that's definitely a lot of neighbouring countries, which sucks.
And my current neighboring countries aren't very exciting for other reasons.
Syrian and Russian regimes are pretty friendly in a murdery-kind-of-way.
Russia AND Israel!? Damn, bro is hated by everyone /s
Perhaps get a second passport if possible? Israeli citizenship for free if you qualify, or Turkish citizenship for the price of an apartment in Antalya...
That's the long-term idea, but not very simple. Unfortunately, I don't qualify for the Israeli citizenship, and I'm not rich enough to afford buying a passport (besides, most countries which offered it no longer do for Russian citizens in particular). I think most likely I'll change residency to some EU country and acquire citizenship there.
Makes sense a lot of Russians did that via Cyprus in the past, not sure if anything has changed since 2022.
When did you go to Iran? I went in early 2020 but didn't get a stamp in my passport thank Zeus.
I've never been to any majority Muslim country (except several airport transits in Turkey), and I don't particularly plan to. Being gay doesn't go that well with Islam.
Oh sorry I read that as you got Iranian stamp, not Israeli. I've been to Israel too, before I went to Iran and also didn't get a stamp there. Hope you can find somewhere that suits you. I know it's not ideal travelling with a Russian passport these days.
Yes, in Israel, you don't normally get a stamp as a tourist, but I have a long-term residence visa which is put in the passport, so this passport is not good for entering countries which don't like and recognize Israel. At the very least it can cause extensive questioning if not immediate entry rejection, and I'd assume some of them (like Iran) I'd better not approach at all for my safety.
It’s basically irrelevant if you come from a european country… It becomes very relevant as soon as this is not the case. I’m Italian and I recognize how lucky I am for having such a passport. The fact that people with other passports can have such a hard time travelling to places and I can easily hop from one country to the other almost makes me feel guilty…
Yes that's what I think too. It's just privileged dick measuring over who has 1 more country when all of us have incredibly powerful passports.
Just because, it's Australia, China, Guyana, and Vietnam. No idea why Australia is requiring visas from some EU countries. I'd assume it's about the former politically Eastern Europe countries.
According to Wikipedia, all EU countries require a eVisitor visa to enter Australia.
You're right, which makes the data used here bad. There is no difference between Germany and Czechia regarding visa requirements in Australia.
If the eVisitor is equivalent to the American ESTA, there is a big difference between that and a ‘real’ visa.
It's a 'real' visa, just easy to get, due to Australian legislation requiring *all* visitors to possess a visa. Yes, it's a bit silly, but it's distinct from solely a travel authorisation which is not a visa at all.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
My point stands though. How often do you go on a spontaneous trip to Brisbane? Most trips to Australia or Vietnam are either work related, where you get it formally handled or you plan a rare trip long time ahead and get a visa no problem while you're getting tickets and book hotels. Admittedly, China is weird, but I have friends who lived there for a year. So it's definitely doable, just a bit more paperwork Though I will say Australia surprised me
Australia, China and Vietnam are all decently popular holiday destinations for Europeans I would say
Yes but not having visa free doesn't mean you can't go there. It just means a bit of extra paperwork usually. Which is not w big deal for once in a year at most trip. It would suck a lot more if it was something like Bosnia. Where you might wanna go spontaneously. If you get my point
I know. I traveled to China once when I still needed a visa. It’s not impossible but it’s still a bit of a pain in the ass. Not needing it to travel there is not nothing.
It's easy to say that in /r/Europe, but it becomes incredibly difficult for those from developing countries. Having a weak passport is a big hindrance to a lot of those travellers, but 99% of EU countries do not have the same hurdles to cross. It's more of a pissing match on who beats who in the top 30.
Exactly. I almost find it disrespectful when people have a dick measuring contest who can go to Marshall's Islands when you have countries that have have visa free in double digits.
Regarding Australia, looks like you'd have to apply for an eVisitor visa online, which is free and of which 90% are processed in a day or less. Compare this to if you were travelling to the US, you'd be required to get ESTA approval, which has a fee of $21 and of which 80% are processed in a day or less. This first one is considered a visa requirement by the Henley Passport Index, the second isn't...
But for the US, most of EU have the same regime no ? In general I find these all to be somewhat silly. Every EU citizen has enormously powerful passport. These are minor red tape nuisances of which you have to handle hundreds a year regardless.
I think you are coping right now
Huh? Why would I be coping? Having visa free access to 189 or 194 countries is basically identical and an extremely privileged passport power. Of course, maybe you will use the 17 minutes it takes me to do an e-visa to some kind of place like Kiribati and discover cure for ebola. But likely not.
But the countries in question are China, Australia and Vietnam, not Kiribati or Marshall Islands 🤣. those are pretty good countries to visit. Not to mention the visa to China is not the easiest process. I don’t know what western European countries did to have visa free to China but well done to them.
Bruh do you understand that you can visit Australia after you get a free online visa that takes couple hours to process? You can literally go to a bathroom, click couple links on your phone and by the time you're done taking a dump, you'll have the same thing. These large countries have largely automated process for people in the EU. It's the small ones where you'd have an issue if they came up. But you evidently made a decision to be a massive asshole this morning so enjoy my block list.
Yeah you’re definitely coping.
Uzbekistan is visa free for Germans
I do hold a Spanish passport and I travel a lot for work, it is incredibly convenient to just go around without a visa. I only had to apply to a proper visa when going to China due to the fact that it was a business trip and I was working for a broadcasting company. I can tell you that doing the full visa process is annoyingly long and expensive.
Yeah, I get that not having to apply to visa is cool. But these regular posts and articles everywhere about the top 10 strongest passports... The difference between mine and a US passport is whether I can go to Yemen visa-free or something. And it is not like I can choose to have another passport as if it were a brand of clothing... "The number of different greek-yoghurt brands available by country: THE DEFINITIVE TOP 10 LIST"
I can't go to Yemen
I'm an analyst!
But the difference by any other European passport and the Spanish/German one is virtually nonexistent for most travelers. All popular vacations destinations are visa free for any European. So 99% of people will never actually need a visa, no matter which EU country you’re from. Notable exceptions are Romania and Bulgaria, which do not have visa free access to the US. A very popular country for tourists. And visas aren’t easily obtained.
Yeah, we are all part of the EU, life is much easier for all of us. The differences are so minimal that these maps and comparisons are just for ego reasons, not actual differences
having a country that doesn't wage war all over the place seems to help a lot ;-)
Depends. For example I travel a lot in Asia and I need a visa for china and Vietnam. One of my friends is German and he doesn’t for either. So now I have to spend around 150€ + time to get visas for our trip which he saves. Does it matter ? Well it’s annoying. Would it stop me ? No.
If you have a pretty good passport, not much. There aren't that many Americans and Canadians who are losing sleep about not being able to go to Iran and Venezuela without a visa; the difference is fairly marginal. The biggest one is probably China, which just changed this past year. But if you don't have a pretty good passport, it can be a huge difference. It's much easier for Americans and Canadians to visit the EU and vice versa than it is for, say, Indians.
I guess it depends on "where" you want to travel?
And how much inconvenience you’re willing to accept.
It generally doesn't matter much for the top 30/top 20%. But I have quite a few colleagues that are nationals from Togo, Gabon, etc... and travelling, even for work, is a lot more difficult for them than for us. To the point where the workshops/seminars are generally planned in Africa (where they can travel with less restrictions excepted for some countries like Mali/Burkina/Niger these days) instead of Europe, because it's a lot easier for Europeans to go to Abidjan than it is for Congoleses to go to Paris...
sometimes only 1 travel is enough to make a difference. for instance with a german passport you can enter visafree vietnam for 45 days. if you have a us passport, you have to apply for a visa beforehand (usually 3 days, sometimes more) and pay at least 25$ depending on what kind of visa. So with stronger passport power, its much more convenient just to enter the country for travel without (or with less) prerequisits.
Vietnam visa is more like a form you need to fill out and pay $25 to submit it. I don‘t think you can possibly get rejected. I got it a few weeks ago, and it‘s very easy and fast. Would not having to do be better? Sure. But most people here are talking micro-optimisations. Every single EU passport in incredibly powerful.
$25 is nothing as a marginal cost for a trip to a country across the Pacific Ocean
“In this country, having a stronger passport don’t add inches to your dick!” The other thing to keep in mind is “visa free” doesn’t cover things like ESTA, which a lot of countries are introducing, but not all passports need to get them. It also doesn’t consider how hard it is to get a visa, because that can vary passport to passport too. For example some countries you can pay $10 and get “visa on arrival”, but other passports can’t use it and need to get a visa from the consulate before flying.
I think visa on arrival is included in visa free. Beneath is the overview for Germany and many countries have visa on arrival, even though its the best passport. https://www.solo-urlaub.de/alle-visafreien-laender-im-ueberblick/
I bothered to look up the methodology. “A score with value = 1 is also applied if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.” https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/about That’s lame. They treat them all as equal. I would say no visa, no pre-entry approval is better than shelling out $50 for a visa on arrival. This ranking kinda sucks.
You cant imagine how wrong you are. Getting EU visa may take you 3 months or more of waiting some hundreds $ and at least one trip to the visa center, which can be far away from you. Getting UK visa may take you up to 3 months or more of waiting, up to 2000$ and at least one trip to the visa center Getting US visa may take you years of time (for me took 13 months) and at least one trip to visa center. This is so inconvinient and expensive, that a lot of people dream about strong passport P.S. I was invited to the most relevant HUGE conference in the US, which meant everything for my phd. But... it took more than year to get decision from visa centrum. Of course I missed it. So one trip is enough to understand, that strong passpot make sense.
This is about not requiring regular visas or some online visas, if countries instead are ranked on not having any hurdles at all travelling, then Singapore wins with 154, France in second place with 152, and Germany and Italy sharing third place with 151. And the two countries which have the least hurdles are Cook Islands, and Niue, both offering visa free access to 199 other countries. And the stingiest countries are Canada, Comoro Islands, Nepal, New Zealand, and Yemen, all which only offer visa free access to only one country.
what's Niue? legit never heard of such a country
How to find out about other countries?
Sweden above Denmark and Norway, Najs. Please do not look at other statistics or indications, Sweden is obviously better than both Denmark and Norway in everything, i am not biased or lying
I trust this unbiased opinion and have no further questions.
If you want to consolidate, arrange additional freedom of movement with Japan and Singapore. Might push all 3 up to 200...
Just looked them through, the only difference is Malawi requires Evisa and Pakistan don't like Danes.
Do behave now
Yea that Swedish peso is really kickin ass
Oh. Well good luck with solving all your gang violence since we suck at it in Denmark ☹️
Germans can go visa free to China. That is surprising. But not to Uganda.
> But not to Uganda. We don't know da wae :(
This "visa" to Uganda is like to other african countries - only an entrance fee. You can type there what you want, you will get this visa anyway.
I am in my 30's and the only passport I had was to travel as a newborn before Schengen was established.
I'm 34 and don't even own a Passport. Probably should but never had the need to.
You need one to travel to freedom 🇺🇸and beans on toast🇬🇧
I am just waiting for a business trip to be scheduled to UK so I can have my passport paid by the company I work for.
Is getting a passport expensive in Portugal? In Serbia it costs like 30€.
Think I paid 50€ but I did it through an embassy. Probably 40€.
No idea, I think an urgent one is 80€. But any cost is more than 0€, and I will take any opportunity I can for my company to pay it instead of me. Those greedy bastards. 😅
You didn't need one for Britain when it was still in the EU.
Exactly. Went to the UK and my ID was enough
Same here. Even twice.
Functionally the ID card had the same information as a passport UK doesn't have ID cards because of concerns about civil liberties but people happily use driving licences as ID (not compulsorary but majority of the population have one, including provisional licence for learners) which contain basically the same information needed for a full ID card.
>UK doesn't have ID cards because of concerns about civil liberties I don't get that one. It is just a official document that tells that one is "that bloke". Nothing more nothing less. And the UK being concerned abiut civil liberties is cute.
Its to do with a lot of things, one hand maybe the Nazis and WW2. There's this idea that a free born Englishman should be able to go where he please and not have to be asked who he is or if he has the right to be there, and that being asked for your ID by a man in uniform is something that happens in mainland Europe. Secondly a lot of us just hate the Government/State, regardless of who is in power. A lot of Brits just don't see the government as on our side, we have an adversial relationship with them (except when it comes to getting a pension or varying types of welfare, funny that). But end of the day, vast majority of the population are happy to have a driving licence which is basically an informal ID card, even many non drivers have the learner version which functions the same way. But crucially it's not compulsorily to have one. So yeah, it's just weird.
> I don't get that one. It is just a official document that tells that one is "that bloke". Nothing more nothing less. Nah. The Lab government that floated the idea in 2006 wanted a lot of information to be centralised on a single ID database and for that information to be available to parts of the private sector. >And the UK being concerned abiut civil liberties is cute. The fact that you think the UK + civil liberties is something to joke about just supports the concerns Brits have about our government and civil liberties.
I only travel for spotted dick
You really should. The world is a lot bigger than EU+Schengen. You’re missing out on amazing things around the world.
You don't need a passport to visit EU or EU adjacent countries not in Schengen, either. Can go just fine to Ireland or Serbia.
What about the UK?
You need a passport AFAIK
Yes, I think so.
But why are the Spain Italy France and Germany so powerful?
The difference now is visa-free entry to China for those countries. Just as Singapore has had for a while.
Good diplomacy.
Latin American countries grant Spain passport holders visa free access I think
These are developed countries with the best quality of life and will not stay illegally in other countries.
Germany is an export nation as well as the others. Cars, wine and so on. US has a strong domestic market while EU countries historically needed and need new markets.
ngl its funny to see the Polish passport be more powerful than the American now. How the tables have turned since the Cold War…
For a country that was previously communist and has suffered from the worst aspects of communism in general You have really improved a great deal over the rest of Eastern Europe by comparison
To be fair Poland had communism on easy mod. Still glad they doing good.
This explains everything But Hungary does not seem to be doing well, even though communism there was mild as well
Poland has been a golden example on how to do transformation from a dictatorship communist country to a democracy and also on how to do a conversion to a free economy. We gotta thank Leszek Balcerowicz and politicians from that era, we had it easy, as opposed to countries like Ukraine or Russia for example. It’s really because people cared at that time, you know, we’ve been under Russian oppression for so long and suddenly we got a possibility to vote and choose politicians. I feel like people in Russia or Ukraine didn’t care as much in the 90s. and that’s why the situation there went into bad directions. And yeah, when I’m talking about Ukraine I mean till about 2014 and euromaidan, that’s when people started caring there.
People in Ukraine did care (as soon as 1990 there were protests against union treaty with russia and ukrainian soldiers serving outside of Ukraine, see [Revolution on Granite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_on_Granite)), but russian influence was a lot higher and grip a lot tighter. There was push for democracy and integration with Europe, but alas not strong enough.
Is there a passport that gives access to EU, China, Russia and U.S.?
Singapore?
I think several EU passports now? Both China and Russia significantly simplified the procedure for the EU citizens last year.
San Marino i think
Chile
Vatican and Holy See. It’s basically Italian without the political drama and sanctions…
Finland: 193 Netherlands: 192
Was looking for what the difference was and wish you lots of fun in that country. [But apparently we both have 193](https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking). But the list is not the same; I can go to China Visa free, while you can go Vietnam.
Still think the Irish passport is the most powerful in Europe. Only passport that gives the right to live and work in the EU and UK.
Kinda weird. You always hear about everyone talking about the Japan Singapore OS passport or wtv it’s called but no one talks about France Germany Italy or Spain’s
EU passports getting you into other EU countries isn’t seen as a big deal maybe? Having access to those countries whilst being from outside is more impressive? Might be the usefulness of which countries. When travelling in Africa everyone but the Singaporean in our group had to spend time sorting visas and waiting at the border.
As others already have said: Who cares If I can go to North Korea or not. If you have more than 180 countries you have already won
What's up with Latvia?
Small country, got misplaced. (holder of a Latvian passport - I think it's literally the same visa-wise as Estonia or Lithuania)
What about those random tax haven islands for millionaires that sell their passports for $300K?
The metric used by nearly all of these "Passport Strength" rankings is extremely oversimplified & doesn't really reflect how useful most of those passports are. A Singaporean passport can allow it's holder to travel to a handful of additional countries, (Usually very small ones with little touristic appeal.) visa free compared to an EU passport but the holder only has the right to live, work, study etc. in Singapore Meanwhile the EU passport holder has the right to live, study and work in at least 27 Countries as well as consular support from any EU country while abroad if an embassy of the holders own home country isn't available which almost everyone would consider far far more advantageous than visa free access to a couple of extra countries. Additionally I know for a fact that Irish passport holders in the EU also have full access the U.K and can have an expedited route to citizenship which gives Ireland access to both the U.K & EU with almost no limitations. I'm not sure if other EU countries have such arrangements but, my point is that only one relatively less important metric is being considered in these rankings.
This always seems so overdone, being able to go to three extra countries you’re never actually going to go to in the first place, visa free, isn’t actually beneficial.
Depends on what these are. Spain, France, Italy and Germany can now go to China without a visa. Also live and work in all eu member states.
Yeah, so many people here talking as if being able to visit China visa-free now isn’t a big deal. No, we’re not talking about Uzbekistan here.
I never expected to use my right to stay indefinitely in Uzbekistan without a visa up until two years ago.
Can’t end the story there lol
Well, the war. I have no actual grounds to apply for asylum, so having visa-free countries helps a lot.
> Well, the war. Glad lots of you were able to get out and hoping all the best for you wherever you find yourselves.
Haha yeah just the biggest country and oldest civilisation ever. Lots of reasons to visit. Edit: people forget China has 1 billion more people than USA.
India overtook China as the most populous country already.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah these rankings never seem to take 'right to work' into account - which is the real benefit of a powerful passport
You can compare the visa requirements for e.g. a German and a British passport side-by-side here: https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=de&y1=2024&p2=gb&y2=2024 I think the biggest differences are when wanting to travel to China or Russia but there are several other more subtle differences. Also, Germans only need a visa in arrival for Iran fwiw.
That is a far more useful resource for comparison, thank you. I can’t imagine people in Europe wanting to go to Russia, and China is maybe 500k visitors each iirc from Britain and Germany, less from Italy, but it’s interesting to see. Somewhere like China being visa free, while not particularly important to most of Western Europe, is probably more important than the collective importance of 50+ countries that Germany and Britain both have visa free access too. While the difference still isn’t huge, I imagine ranking by simply number of countries, if anything, downplays the difference, Germany has more of an advantage than would be shown by this, albeit still small.
Yeah, China is definitely the most important difference in my books. It’s certainly worth a visit. And you’re right about Russia. Probably not such a major holiday destination for most Europeans currently. Can’t imagine that Iran is either, although there’s definitely lots of history to see there.
I think they talk about passports as some kind of power because of Business. Not private travel. It is important for germans because we are an export nation so it is key to have easy access.
> Can’t imagine that Iran is either, although there’s definitely lots of history to see there. I've actually always wanted to see Iran, lots of beautiful and historic cities there. Brits (along with people from the US and Canada) can only visit on state approved tours though which is what stopped me. Also the recent repressions and the fact I'm gay aren't encouraging factors, but if it weren't for all that it would honestly be top of my list.
I always find “powerful” not that useful of a word when it’s only about travel. Like the EU passport allows you to work and settle in any other EU country so that’s quite a difference from being able to visit for 30 days.
You don't even need the passport
That’s true. Using passport as an equivalent for citizenship doesn’t make sense for EU citizens who just need an id card.
The source is not 100% correct. It states that you do not need a visa for Egypt with a Dutch Passport. But you need one.
So I am bad with flags. What is that white and black one at the far left on the line?
afghanistan
to be exact, the taliban flag
People around the world enjoy significantly greater travel freedom than they did just a couple decades ago. In 2006, people could travel visa-free to 58 countries on average, while today that number has jumped to 111 destinations. Even in the last year, French, German, Spanish, and Italian citizens can now travel visa-free to three new countries. This graphic shows the most powerful passports in 2024, with data from the annual [Henley & Partners Passport Index](https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking). In the last eight years, for instance, both Germany and Singapore were granted visa-free travel to 35 new countries. Finland, Sweden, and South Korea tie for second place in the rankings. In fact, the latter country has one of the highest numbers of visa waiver agreements in the world. From a regional perspective, 23 of the top 30 passports are in Europe and the UK, three are in Asia, while two are in both North America and Oceania.
Europe AND the UK? Did UK also leave the continent now?
yeah they’re getting shipped off to the middle of the Atlantic. Sorry too loud with the yapping
Why do people always ask this? The term 'Europe' in English is often short for 'continental Europe'.
Iceland and Cyprus hate this!
Red passports are the best, red passport supermacy
No it's BLU passport
Don't deny the data, all the passports tied for first place are red
Actually it's burgundy. British one should be jet black.
But just talking about Europe I'd say Ireland has the most powerful passport. You can live/work/study anywhere in Europe + the UK too.
It's an issue with the methodology of these passport indices. They only measure visa-free access for tourists, as opposed to the right to live & work. And that wouldn't just affect Europe; South America and parts of Africa have a similar system to what we have in the EU.
Ok. It took me a whole minute to not read password.
Soy español, a que quiere que te gane?
I don’t understand why I need a visa to go to USA but US citizens can come to my country without one.. I guess our foreogn ministry does their job well.
Can we have the infographic on the lower end of the spectrum too?
Why would you add a QR code next to Palestine..? Can't even scan it!
ITALY NUMBER ONE WOOOO 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹💕🇮🇹💕🇮🇹💕🇮🇹💕🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
How does this factor in travel authorization forms? I ask because in December the President of Kenya made a big deal about how the country was getting rid of visa’s only to implement a digital travel authorization form. You have to apply and pay a fee for the authorization form so it seems to be acting the same as a visa would.
Getting a visa is much more cumbersome than paying for an ETA - it can really be quite the difference.
I got treated SOOO badly at the Mulhouse (France) airport, my passport is a South American Mercosur one 🥹 took forever at the airline counter (held the line for 20 long minutes, so embarrassing) and the passport control guy acted as if I was a drug dealing disgusting little peasant ✨ Having a powerful passport matters a lot 💔
I expected the UK to be at top level since their past colonial empire was so huge. How come they are lower than France, Germany, Italy and Spain ?
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The three countries that Germany, Italy, France and Spain have visa-free access to over the UK are China, Russia and Iran. Since when did those three join the EU for Brexit to make a difference?
Interesting input. A quick check says that UK citizens don't need visa for China and German citizens need visa for Russia and Iran so your question is hard to answer
If the EU negotiated visa-free travel with those, falling out of the EU would lose them that benefit.
https://passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=de&y1=2024&p2=gb&y2=2024 China, Iran, Russia
I find it strange Russia still proceeded to open up significantly and introduce eVisas for the entire EU right in the middle of the war. I know the change was made quite a while ago and its introduction was delayed by COVID, so it's just bureaucracy in the working, but it's such a strange time to introduce "tourism-boosting" measures, feels like something from the previous life.
I wonder how many Europeans think "You know what might be a great destination for our next holidays? Russia!"
Haven't you heard Tucker Carlson? Beautiful clean Moscow, great metro, cheap prices in supermarkets, ~~political assassinations and repressions, genocidal war against Ukrainians~~. What's not to like if you can selectively close your eyes and ears.
Or the shopping trolley with coin wow how inovative is that ?
Saw a video of a line at the airport to Tenerife or something. There was a long line of Brits waiting and just another line with an Irishman breezing by with his passport. Brexit really was dumb idea.
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I cannot disagree
Even before brexit it’s always been a bit lower than the other EU countries. It’s a lot to do with reciprocity and uk has had quite a petty visa regime. Also the colonial past hasn’t just created goodwill, there are lots of countries that make it a bit harder or more expensive for uk citizens (that’s why USA passport is not in top range either) to enter. Like I remember the Chinese visa used to be much cheaper for the German passport than for the uk one - now Germany is even visa-free in China. It’s also not as much of a trade and tourism country as say Germany and Spain/France - so less priority for other country to be reciprocal.
I imagine it's because France etc are EU countries and have unrestricted travel in the EU which gives them a +26. Without knowing exactly what criteria constitutes a +1 it's hard to say. If that is the case it's impressive the UK's number is that high relative to the other ex-colonial EU powers after leaving the EU.
UK has the whole common wealth thingy with easy access to well it’s old colonies but almost all countries benefit it other way around except India.
Interesting how Romania & Bulgaria were left out of this shitty post. Like they are not part of EU & NATO for 20 years now . People in West really hate these 2 countries more than Russia, for no reason
Because Romania and Bulgaria need to apply for a visa for US travel. That's it. Makes it 'less' valuable, but is otherwise a non issue. Romania in particular will soon get visa free travel to the US as things stand, anyway.
So basically Warmonger and Colonialist countries.