Due to the ongoing pandemic, there have been international bans on travel and any associated restrictions. It has been validated by the London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm called Henley & Partners.
Based on exclusive data being released by International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Henley Passport Index of the firm has been monitoring regularly the most powerful passports of the world since way back in 2016.
Due to the high travel barriers with the wave of Covid-19 in the last 18 months, there was a vast global mobility gap in the 16-year history. Temporary restrictions are not taken into account by the Index.
Japan and Singapore are at the top of the list as holders of this passport can travel visa-free to 192 destinations. Europe dominates the second place as South Korea is tied with Germany in second place (with a score of 190) and is followed by the European countries of Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain are all in one place being tied in third place (with a score of 189).
It does not stop at this when it comes to Europe leading the passport race with Austria and Denmark in fourth place and France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden in fifth place. New Zealand recently announced the elimination of the Covid-19 strategy and opting for a vaccine certificate system. It has been placed in sixth place along with Belgium and Switzerland.
The United States and the United Kingdom that have earlier held top spots in 2014 have now come down and fixed themselves at the seventh place. The Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, and Norway have visa-free or visa-on-demand access to 185 destinations.
According to the report by Henley and Partners, it indicates “growing inequalities.” It, therefore, suggests that “restrictive policies initially introduced to contain the spread of Covid-19 are now conveniently applied to contain mobility from the global south.”Need to know more? Get in touch with our certified immigration consultants by ringing us at 8595338595 or mail us at [email protected]
