An unprecedented six countries share the top spot with visa-free access to a record-breaking number of destinations on the 2024 Henley Passport Index. Four EU member states — France, Germany, Italy, and Spain — join Japan and Singapore in boasting the most powerful passports in the world, with their citizens able to visit an astonishing 194 destinations out of 227 around the globe visa-free. The two Asian nations have dominated first place on the index (which ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa) for the past five years.
The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations. If no visa is required, then a score with value = 1 is created for that passport. The same applies if you can obtain a visa on arrival (VOA), a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.
Where a visa is required, or where a passport holder has to obtain a government-approved electronic visa (e-Visa) before departure, a score with value = 0 is assigned. This also applies if you need pre-departure government approval for a visa on arrival.
The rest of the Top 10 is largely dominated by European countries, with the UK climbing up two ranks to 4th place with visa-free access to 191 destinations compared to just 188 a year ago. Australia and New Zealand passport holders both improve their ranking to sit in 6th place with 189 visa-free destinations, while the US retains its 7th place with access to 188 destinations without requiring a visa in advance. It has been a decade since the UK and the US jointly held 1st place on the index in 2014.
Indians can travel visa-free to the following destinations:
-
Angola -
Barbados -
Bhutan -
Bolivia -
British Virgin Island -
Burundi -
Cambodia -
Cape Verde Islands -
Comoro Islands -
Cook Islands -
Jamaica -
Iran -
Indonesia -
Haiti -
Guinea-Bissau -
Grenada -
Gabon -
Fiji -
Ethiopia -
El Salvador -
Djibouti -
Dominica -
Jordan -
Kazakhstan -
Kenya -
Kiribati -
Laos -
Malaysia -
Maldives -
Macao (SAR China) -
Madagascar -
Marshall Islands -
Mauritania -
Mauritius -
Montserrat -
Mozambique -
Myanmar -
Nepal -
Niue -
Tanzania -
St. Vincent and the Grenadines -
St. Kitts and Nevis -
St. Lucia -
Sri Lanka -
Somalia -
Seychelles -
Sierra Leone -
Senegal -
Rwanda -
Samoa -
Qatar -
Palau Islands -
Oman -
Thailand -
Timor-Leste -
Togo -
Trinidad and Tobago -
Tunisia -
Tuvalu -
Vanuatu -
Zimbabwe -
Micronesia
First Published: Feb 06 2024 | 10:57 AM IST