Even though millions of people have not been able to travel abroad due to the pandemic, the rankings still rank countries by the number of visa-free countries for their citizens, theoretically in the current context.
Accordingly, Japan is still in first place with a visa-free passport in 191 countries (equivalent to 191 points), Singapore is in second place with 190 points, South Korea and Germany share third place with 189 points.
Although the US passport retained its 7th place with 185 points, the country was removed from the list of "safe" countries according to the European Union (EU). The decision makes this passport lose much of its power and shows the consequences of the US being unable to control the epidemic - as Brazil is, according to Henley & Partners.
Henley & Partners said that although temporary travel restrictions amid Covid-19 were not included in the assessment, the reality made everyone "awakened when considering the level of freedom of movement of the owners of the once-famous passports".
The EU only allows citizens of 14 countries to fly here when the borders reopen on July 1, including Australia, Canada, Georgia, Algeria, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. Some of these countries have modest positions according to the latest Henley Passport Index rankings such as Algeria ranked 92nd (51 points), Rwanda ranked 83rd (60 points), Tunisia ranked 74th (69 points)...
Likewise, Brazil is absent from the EU’s list of countries that are welcome, despite officially ranking 19th in the overall index – so in real terms it ranks closer to Paraguay (36th in the index, with a score of 142). And while Singapore is absent from the EU list, the runner-up’s passport also lags behind top-ranked countries like Japan and South Korea.
Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and inventor of the passport index concept, said the recent EU decision is highly influential in the current context.
Powerful passports as of Q3/2020 ranked by number of visa-free destinations:
1. Japan (191)
2. Singapore (190)
3. South Korea, Germany (189)
4. Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg (188)
5. Denmark, Austria (187)
6. Sweden, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal (186)
7. USA, UK, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland (185)
8. Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, New Zealand (184)
9. Canada, Australia (183)
10. Hungary (182)
The least powerful passports belong to a number of countries whose citizens are visa-free or require visa-on-arrival access to fewer than 40 countries.
103. North Korea (39)
104. Libya, Nepal, Palestinian Territories (38)
105. Somalia, Yemen (33)
106. Pakistan (32)
107. Syria (29)
108. Iraq (28)
109. Afghanistan (26)
Due to changes in the rankings of other countries, in the third quarter of 2020, Vietnam's passport dropped one place to 89/107 compared to the second quarter, although it maintained 54 points, tied with Cambodia, Mali and Niger. Meanwhile, Malaysia ranked 14th (178 points), Brunei ranked 23rd (166 points), Timor-Leste ranked 57th (95 points), Thailand ranked 66th (78 points), Indonesia ranked 73rd (71 points), Philippines ranked 76th (67 points), Laos ranked 92nd (50 points).
