The world’s most powerful passports for 2026

By Maureen O’Hare, CNN

(CNN) — When it comes to traveling from country to country without restrictions and enjoying shorter lines at border control, there’s an elite tier of passports with more clout than others.

The top three passports, says the latest report by the Henley Passport Index, are Asian countries: Singapore at No.1 and Japan and South Korea tied at No.2.

Singaporeans enjoy visa-free access to 192 of the 227 countries and territories tracked by the index, which was created by the London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, and uses exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association.

Japan and South Korea are just behind with visa-free access to 188 destinations.

Henley counts multiple countries with the same score as a single spot in its standings, so five European countries share the No.3 slot: Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. All have visa-free access to 186 countries and territories.

It’s an all-European placement at No.4 also, with the following countries all having a score of 185: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

Fifth place, with a score of 184, is held by Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates.

UAE climbs the ranks

The UAE is the country with the strongest performance in the 20-year history of the Henley Passport Index, adding 149 visa-free destinations since 2006 and climbing 57 places up the rankings. This, says the report, has been driven by the UAE’s “sustained diplomatic engagement and visa liberalization.”

At No.6 are Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Malta, New Zealand and Poland. Australia has held onto its position at No.7 in this quarterly update, alongside Latvia, Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom.

The UK is the country with the steepest year-on-year losses on the index, now having visa-free access to 182 destinations, eight fewer than it had 12 months ago.

Canada, Iceland and Lithuania are at No.8, with visa-free access to 181 destinations, while Malaysia is at No.9, with a score of 180.

The United States is back in the No.10 spot, with a score of 179, after briefly dropping out for the first time in late 2025. However, don’t pop the champagne just yet. The US is just behind the UK when it comes to year-on-year decline, having lost visa-free access to seven destinations in the past 12 months.

It’s also endured the third-largest ranking decline over the past two decades — after Venezuela and Vanuatu — falling six places from fourth to 10th.

Stability and credibility

“Passport power ultimately reflects political stability, diplomatic credibility, and the ability to shape international rules,” Misha Glenny, journalist and rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, says in Henley & Partners’ report.

“As transatlantic relations strain and domestic politics grow more volatile, the erosion of mobility rights for countries like the US and UK is less a technical anomaly than a signal of deeper geopolitical recalibration.”

At the opposite end of the index, at No. 101, Afghanistan remains locked in bottom place, with visa-free access to just 24 destinations. Syria is at No. 100 (with 26 destinations) and Iraq is at No. 99 (with 29 destinations).

That’s a yawning mobility gap of 168 destinations between the top- and bottom-ranked passports.

“Over the past 20 years, global mobility has expanded significantly, but the benefits have been distributed unevenly,” says Christian H. Kaelin, chairman at Henley & Partners and creator of the Henley Passport Index.

“Today, passport privilege plays a decisive role in shaping opportunity, security and economic participation, with rising average access masking a reality in which mobility advantages are increasingly concentrated among the world’s most economically powerful and politically stable nations.”

Dual citizenship

Henley & Partners is one of a number of companies that assists high-net-worth individuals in attaining dual citizenship around the globe. This month it told CNN that in 2025 it had assisted clients of 91 nationalities, but Americans were top of the list, accounting for 30% of the firm’s business.

However, several European countries have recently tightened requirements for citizenship by descent and also for “golden passport” programs, which grant citizenship in exchange for financial and/or property investment. In the US, Ohio’s Republican senator Bernie Moreno has proposed an “Exclusive Citizenship Act” that would ban Americans from holding any other citizenships.

The Henley list is one of several indexes created by financial firms to rank global passports according to the access they provide to their citizens.

Arton Capital’s Passport Index takes into consideration the passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories — Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Kosovo, the Palestinian territories and the Vatican. Territories annexed to other countries are excluded.

It’s also updated in real-time throughout the year and its data is gathered by close monitoring of individual governments’ portals.

Arton’s Global Passport Power Rank 2026 puts the United Arab Emirates in the top spot, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 179. Second place is held by Singapore and Spain, each with a score of 175.

The world’s most powerful passports for 2026

• Singapore (192 destinations)
• Japan, South Korea (188)
• Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (186)
• Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway (185)
• Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates (184)
• Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland (183)
• Australia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, United Kingdom (182)
• Canada, Iceland, Lithuania (181)
• Malaysia (180)
• United States (179)

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