For most of the 20th century, governments have increased entry restrictions for foreigners wishing to visit their countries, and visa requirements continue to play an important role in controlling the movement of individuals across borders. Visa policies are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community.
Henley & Partners, the global leaders in Residence and Citizenship Planning, have monitored and analyzed visa regulations for many years and since 2006 have published the annual Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, a global ranking of countries based on the freedom of travel for their citizens.
This global ranking is produced in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world's largest database of travel information. In compiling the index, the unique global ranking methodology by Henley & Partners is applied to data provided by IATA´s passport and visa database.
Henley & Partners now presents the 2014 Visa Restrictions Index, ranking countries according to their citizens' visa-free access to other countries as of July 2014.
The new Index shows some interesting changes. Since 2013, Germany and the US have joined Finland, Sweden and the UK on the top rank, each achieving a score of 174 countries that their citizens can travel to visa-free, and Canada has jumped from fourth place to second with 173 countries, along with Denmark. These are the best passports to have in the world.
The US has risen fast in the ranking from a previously occupied 7th position in 2010 to its current 1st place.
Belgium and Portugal - both countries with attractive residence programs leading to citizenship - have the third best passports in the world (172), a position that is shared with France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain.
Austria (171) increased its ranking position, from 5th to 4th over the past year. Additionally, Switzerland has risen to 5th position, along with New Zealand and Singapore, with a score of 170.
Also over the past year, Malta (166) rose by one position, making it the 8th best passport in the world,. Cyprus (157) has also increased its ranking, to the 14th position, and Monaco (150) remained at 17.
Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, passport holders from Hong Kong (15th) have much better travel accessibility than their counterparts in China (83rd).
St. Kitts and Nevis (132) has moved from 49th to 24th place in the space of five years; Antigua and Barbuda (also 132) moved up from 31st to 24th and Dominica (91) moved up from 46th to 45th within only one year.
Chile moved up three places this year, to 18th position with a score of 149; and Croatia, Panama and Turkey all moved up four rankings to 22nd, 28th and 38th respectively. The biggest single mover this year was Moldova, which jumped very significantly from 68th to 46th place, now achieving a score of 89 countries. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan and Palestine remain in the bottom five places of the ranking, meaning that citizens of these countries enjoy the least freedom of travel.
In the GCC, the UAE, Qatar and Oman saw increases in passport ranking from 2013 to 2014. The UAE (77) increased from 56th to 55th position, Qatar (75) increased from 57th to 56th position, and Oman (66) increased from 65th to 64th position. In addition, although the passport rankings remained unchanged from 2013 to 2014, the overall Index scores of Saudi Arabia (65) and Kuwait (78) increased.
As one would expect, it is evident that citizens from developed countries have more freedom to travel compared to developing countries and countries that are suffering from political instability. For more information, see https://www.henleyglobal.com/visa-restrictions/
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Press Contact:
Taylyn Bush / Carine Arif
Weber Shandwick
Tel: +971 4 445 42 22;
e-mail: TBush@webershandwick.com ; carif@webershandwick.com
About Henley & Partners
Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship planning. Each year, hundreds of wealthy individuals, families and their advisors rely on their expertise and experience in this area.
The concept of residence and citizenship planning was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalization has expanded, residence and citizenship have become topics of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors whom work with Henley & Partners.
The firm also runs a leading government advisory practice, and have been involved in strategic consulting and the design, set-up and operation of several of the world's most successful residence and citizenship programs which attracted have more than US$ 3.8 billion in foreign direct investment to date.
© Press Release 2015
