While most Indians would want an american passport (if given an opportunity), you will be surprised to know that the american passport is not the most powerful passport in the world.
A new ranking of world passports by website Passport Index found that citizens of Singapore can travel to the highest number of countries visa-free, and is the most powerful passport in the world. Passport Index ranks passports in real time, based on the cross-border access a holder has.
Historically, the top 10 most powerful passports in the world were mostly European, with Germany having the lead for the past two years. Since the last few years Singapore has been steadily inching towards the top position.
While Singapore quietly climbed the ranks, the US passport has fallen down since President Donald Trump took office. Most recently Turkey and the Central African Republic revoked their visa-free status to US passport holders, the statement said.
Germany is in second place, while Sweden and South Korea are tied in third place. The UK is tied in fourth place along with Denmark, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, and Japan. The US is in 6th position along with Canada, Ireland and Malaysia.
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Earlier, the German passport was the most powerful in the world.
Visa-free access to a country means you don’t have to fill out any visa forms, you don’t have to stand in lengthy queues waiting for officials to stamp your visa.
Just land at the airport and head straight to your hotel; the time you save can be better spent on excursions, relaxation and enjoying the local cuisine.
Its not difficult to guess what the process would be for those at the bottom of the list; its a time-consuming, laborious and costly affair. You have to provides pages full of information and wait for weeks (in some case) to get the visa.
As per the survey, the countries at the bottom of the list (“the worst passports in the world”) were Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Lure for Foreign Citizenships
That explains why high-net-worth-individuals from poorer countries invest their wealth into citizenship programmes of rich & powerful countries.
The dual-citizenship entitles them to stay in touch with their home country, and also entitles them to the perks associated with a ‘golden ticket passport’, where the world is quite literally your oyster.
