It’s finally that time of the year. The time when you look at the list of the world’s most
powerful passports!
The Henley Passport Index 2025 has ranked all the world’s 199 passports based on the number of destinations they can access visa-free and is based on exclusive Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Singapore has secured the first position as the most powerful passport in the world with visa-free access to 195 out of 227 destinations worldwide. Japan is the runner-up with 193 visa-free destinations, but it is still ahead of the rest after it regained visa-free access to neighboring China for the first time since the Covid lockdowns.
Several EU member states, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain dropped two places in the ranking to 3rd position, along with Finland and South Korea. These countries currently offer visa-free access to 192 world destinations. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway share the fourth rank with access to 191 destinations. Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are at fifth rank with 190 visa-free destinations.
The US is the second-biggest faller between 2015 and 2025, after Venezuela, according to the index, falling seven places from 2nd to 9th position. Vanuatu is the third-biggest faller, going from 48th to 54th, followed by the British passport, which was top of the index in 2015 but now sits in 5th place. Canada is also on the Top 5 losers list, dropping from 4th to 7th place.
Prof. Peter J. Spiro of Temple University Law School in Philadelphia and a leading expert on dual citizenship commented on the Henley Global Mobility Report 2025 Q1, and said that the Trump reprise magnifies another element of value for alternative residence or citizenship rights: political risk insurance, “This time around, the stakes are higher.
During the first Trump administration, legacy political guardrails were still in place. Now, many are gone. There is a sense that what Trump wants, Trump will be able to get. His political agenda is mercurial, to say the least, and political uncertainty is the result. Americans can no longer take stability for granted. Trump can be fickle with outsiders, too. It is almost certain that he will resurrect the infamous “travel ban”, which he put in place a week after he first took office, early in the new administration. The ban precluded targeted nationals from securing permanent residence in the
USA as well as a range of temporary-stay visas. But the bans did not apply to citizens of targeted states if they held an additional
citizenship of a non-targeted state. The carve-out for dual citizens made sense.”
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Here’s the list of the most powerful passports for 2025:
1. Singapore (195 destinations)
2. Japan (193)
3. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, South Korea (192)
4. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway (191)
5. Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190)
6. Greece, Australia (189)
7. Canada, Poland, Malta (188)
8. Hungary, Czechia (187)
9. Estonia, United States (186)
10. Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates (185)
