Japan has best passport, India ranks 85

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10

The Henley’s passport index has retained Japan on top of passport rankings as it offers visa-free access to 191 destinations around the world.

India is in the middle with rank 85, but three of its SAARC fellow members — Pakistan, Nepal (104) and Afghanistan — bring up the rear with countries in the throes of civil war such as Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Indian passport holders can access 58 countries in the world without a prior visa and share the spot with Tajikistan.

Singapore continues to be in second place since the rankings were last announced in July 2019, while South Korea and Germany are tied for the third place.

The index has placed Pakistan on the 107th position. Pakistani passport holders can have visa-free access to 32 countries.

Henley & Partner’s Passport Index is one of several indexes created by financial firms to rank global passports according to the access they provide to their citizens. If you wish to travel to a particular country and your passport-issuing nation has a visa agreement with the country to which you intend to travel, then you won’t need to apply for a visa beforehand. Such deals affect a country’s passport ranking.

The index is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations.

Arton Capital’s Passport Index takes into consideration the passports of 193 UN member countries and six territories — Taiwan, Macau (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican. Its 2020 index ties Japan with New Zealand at the top.