Henley Passport Index keeps a running tally of the various passports in the world and this quarter, these rankings are definitely affected due to Covid-19 bans. Which means that many passports should see a bounce in the next report but, for now, some passports took a dive.
US Passport Is Similar to Uruguay and Mexico in Travel Freedoms
While the US passport is normally in the top 10 or even top 6 or 7, this last quarter saw it drop to 28th place worldwide. Now, according to Henley which tracks this, it has similar travel freedoms as passports issued by Uruguay. This is due to the fact that passport holders from Uruguay can visit EU countries while US passport holders cannot.
In past reports, US passport holders could access 185 countries, visa-free. Now, it is 158 countries that can be accessed, visa-free. The obvious different in numbers is related to the EU ban on American passport holders who do not fit certain parameters for accessing the EU.
But, without these temporary restrictions, the US still sits in 7th place with 185 countries. At the top of the list is Japan with 191 countries of visa-free access. Interestingly, that number does not change under the various Covid-19 bans since Japanese citizens can still move about quite freely.
Here are some of the top countries on the list, not including Covid-19 bans:
- Japan – 191
- Singapore – 190
- Germany – 189
- South Korea – 189
- Finland – 188
- Italy – 188
- Luxembourg – 188
- Spain – 188
- Austria – 187
- Denmark – 187
- France – 186
- Ireland – 186
- Netherlands – 186
- Portugal – 186
- Sweden – 186
- Belgium – 185
- Norway – 185
- Switzerland – 185
- United Kingdom – 185
- United States – 185
I think it’s more accurate to say that the US passport is tied for 16th, not 7th. There are 15 countries that have more visa-free access