Europe dominates the new index of the world’s “most powerful passports”.
According to the new index Spain now has the “most powerful” passport in the world.
THE rating determined by VisaGuide.Worldspecializing in visa information, shows that Spain is ahead of Singapore, which took the first place in popularity Henley Passport Index published in October.
Japan, in 15th place, is the only other non-European country appears in the top 20 of the VisaGuide.World index.
Germany is in 3rd place, followed by Italy, France, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary and Luxembourg.
Austria is ranked 16th, while Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Poland round out the top 20.
How does VisaGuide.World classify passports?
L’quarterly Henley Passport Index and VisaGuide.World Passport Index both reviews the number of destinations that passport holders can enter without a visa.
Although Henley is widely regarded as an authority on the subject, it has not yet published its latest assessment.
He classified in October Singapore in 1st place, followed by Japan in 2nd and in a tie for 3rd place with Finland, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Spain and Sweden, based only on the number of destinations where passport holders can travel without a visa.
VisaGuide.World takes into account other factors, by creating a “destination importance score” for each travel destination.
This score takes into account input policy type that country is requesting a passport – visa-free, ETA, visa-on-arrival, e-visa, embassy-approved visa, passport-free travel or entry ban. It also assigns points to a country’s GDP, its global power and tourism development.
Visa-free access to a country with a high destination importance score brings a passport more points in the index than entering a country with a low score.
Where can Spanish passport holders travel without a visa?
From December 2023 Holders of Spanish passports will be able to travel to 160 countries and territories without a visa.
Although Singapore passport holders can travel to 164 countries, Spain scores points for the many destinations its nationals can visit with a simple ID card within the European Union.
Holders passports However, Singaporeans have visa-free access to 15 other countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ivory Coast and Cuba.
Spain, meanwhile, has visa-free access to 11 countries and territories – including the Falkland Islands, Seychelles, Ukraine and Venezuela – that require visas from Singaporean nationals.
However, VisaGuide.World does not disclose each country’s “Destination Importance Score”.
L’Germany it has visa-free access to the same 160 countries as Spain (both countries accept each other) but Spain uses visas on arrival in Papua New Guinea and Togowhile Germany must apply for an electronic visa.