Ukraine has taken 44th place in the global passport ranking, significantly improving its positions due to obtaining visa-free access to the Schengen countries in 2017 and thus leaving behind all countries of the former Soviet Union, except for the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – members of the European Union. Ukrainians can visit 114 countries without a visa.
According to the 2018 Henley & Partners Passport Index, which takes into account how many countries can be visited without applying for a visa, Germany retains its top spot for the fifth year running. In 2018, a German passport gives the right to visit 177 countries without a visa, one more country than last year.
Singapore is second (176 countries), whereas the third place is shared by eight states, in particular, Britain, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Finland, France, Sweden, and Japan. Citizens of these countries were given an opportunity to visit 175 countries without a visa. Most of them improved last year’s figures of visa-free access to other countries.
Russia took 48th place in the table, sharing it with Moldova and Montenegro. Russians can visit 110 countries without a visa. Almost all CIS countries improved last year’s figures on the number of countries with visa-free entry.
As for the countries in which programs for obtaining citizenship through investment are in place, then the widest choice of states with visa-free entry is offered by the passport of Austria (174 countries). The amount of necessary investment for obtaining an Austrian passport is EUR 8-10 million. Malta and Cyprus, whose citizenship can be obtained for investments of EUR 1-2 million, offer visa-free access to 169 and 159 countries respectively. Among the Caribbean countries with investment programs, the most mobile passport is the Saint Kitts and Nevis passport with visa-free access to 139 countries.
The last place in the rating is occupied by Afghanistan, whose citizens were granted visa-free access to only 24 countries.
The Henley & Partners Passport Index, formerly known as the Visa Restrictions Index (renamed in 2018), has been published since 2006 in cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which supports the world’s largest tourist information base.
A total of 200 countries and territories were analyzed in 2018.
