Japanese passport- the strongest in the world

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

According to the 2019 Henley Passport Index, Japanese citizens hold the strongest passport in the world and its citizens can travel visa-free or obtain a visa on arrival in 190 countries.

Asian countries dominated the world rankings and Japan was followed by Singapore and South Korea in the second place. Their citizens can visit 189 destinations without getting a visa before travel.

Based on the data from the International Air Transport Association (Iata) South Korea could reach the highest position in the passport index.

Asian countries have the extraordinary effect on international mobility and migration with continued dominance.

With access to 188 destinations without a visa Germany and France are ranked in the third place. The US and UK came down in the ranking at a joint sixth position having access to 185 destinations.

There has been a significant fall from 2015 when the American and British passport had a strong ranking. Denmark, Finland, Italy, and Sweden were in then fourth place and Spain and Luxembourg took the fifth spot.

Iraq and Afghanistan had access to just 30 visa-free destination at the bottom of the 2019 ranking.

Over the past few years China and the United Arab, in 2017 the Chinese passports were ranked 85^th strongest while in 2019 they were in the 69^th and its citizens have an access to 74 countries without having a prior visa.

United Arab Emirates holds 22^nd place and its citizens are able to access 164 countries due to signed agreement with countries Mexico, Japan and Sierra Leone.

Turkish e-visas has influenced the 2019 rankings  and citizens of more than 100 countries Canada, the UK and the US can now apply a visa in advance.

As per the index there was an overwhelming positive trend towards visa openness and mutual agreements between nations since the start of the index.

In 2006 historical data showed that an average citizen could travel to 58 destinations without having a visas. The number of countries went up to 107 by the end of 2018.

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