TODAY-Jan 11
Singapore retained its title of having the most powerful passport in the world for 2024, with five other countries’ passports also joining the top rank of the latest Henley Passport Index. The other passports in the top spot of the 2024 index are from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain. The index ranks the travel documents based on how many destinations the travelers can go to without a pre-approved visa. In a press statement released on Wednesday (Jan 10), investment migration consultancy firm Henley & Partners noted that citizens of these six countries boast visa-free travel to 194 destinations out of 227 around the globe. Singapore and Japan have dominated the top spot on the index for the past five years. In the last five years, Japan has ranked as the top spot for the most powerful passport, except in 2023, where it ranked second place. Singapore was ranked first in 2019, 2021 and 2023, and second in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Last year, Singapore’s passport accorded visa-free travel to 193 countries for its holders and was awarded the world’s most powerful passport. Japan came in a close second with visa-free travel to 192 countries. Henley & Partners’ website states that the annual Henley Passport Index uses official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to come up with its ranking. This data is then supplemented and updated using in-house research from the firm, along with other open-source online data. This is to maintain the accuracy of the data provided by IATA, in the face of constant updates to visa policy. This research process is carried out throughout the year and coupled with a rigorous monitoring system by Henley & Partners to pick up relevant visa-policy shifts, the website states. In the 2024 index, the top 10 rankings are filled by passports from European countries. Afghanistan ranks the lowest on the list, at 104th position, with visa-free travel to 28 countries. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-passport-ranked-worlds-most-powerful-2024-tied-5-other-countries-2340406
