Covid takes shine off some of world's most powerful passports

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The Singapore passport, while remaining in second place on the latest Henley Passport Index, has far lesser travel freedom due to exclusion from EU's 'safe travel' list. Photo Credit: Credit: tang90246/Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the power of the world's top passports, with travel freedom of once-prestigious passports like the US taking a dramatic beating, according to citizenship and residency advisory firm Henley & Partners.

US, Singapore and Russia passports are among those with a reduction in travel freedom due to current travel bans in place.

A significant factor at play is the current travel bans in place amid the global health pandemic. For instance, the European Union has from July 1 reopened its borders to countries including Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea – traditional high scorers on the Henley Passport Index – but the United States, Brazil and Russia were notably excluded from the welcome list.

Although not reflected in the latest Henley Passport Index, which does not take temporary travel bans into account, travel freedom for the holders of once-prestigious passports has drastically changed.

The US passport usually ranks in the top 10, with its citizens able to access 185 destinations without a visa. However, under the current EU ban, Americans have roughly the same level of travel freedom as citizens of Uruguay and Mexico (ranked 28th and 25th respectively).

Russian citizens – whose passport usually ranks ahead of countries such as Georgia and Albania (both included on the EU's list) – have seen their passport strength reduced to one of the weakest in the region. And Brazilian passport holders – most recently placed 19th on the index ­– currently have roughly the same travel freedom as citizens of Paraguay in 36th position.

Without taking the current travel bans into account, Japan continues to hold the number one spot on the Henley Passport Index with a score of 191. Singapore remains in second place, while Germany and South Korea are in joint third place.

Singapore, however, has been excluded from the EU list so its citizens currently have far less travel freedom than their closest competitors on the index, which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association.

Dr. Christian Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, says this latest decision by the EU indicates there's more upheaval to come.

"Look at the US passport, for example – in 2014, it held the number one spot in the world on our index, but US nationals currently have far less travel freedom than most citizens of wealthy, industrialised nations and even of some less developed nations, being effectively locked out of Europe.

"In the coming months, we will see an emergence of a new global hierarchy in terms of mobility, with countries who have effectively managed the pandemic taking the lead, while countries who have handled it poorly falling behind."

Experts suggest that the Covid-19 crisis is likely to make international mobility more restricted and unpredictable in the longer term.

"Even as countries open their borders, it is expected that numerous governments will use epidemiological concerns as a justification for imposing new immigration restrictions and nationality-targeted travel bans that will mainly be aimed at citizens of developing countries," says Prof. Dr. Yossi Harpaz, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tel Aviv University.

Australians now enjoy the second-most powerful passport in the world, with COVID-19 travel restrictions bumping us up the list.

The Passport Index by Arton Capital, a citizenship and financial advisory firm, gives passports a "Mobility Ranking" based on the number of countries the passport allows access to without a visa, with visa on arrival, or with a visa in advance.

The latest rankings have seen New Zealanders climb to the top of the table, with a Mobility Ranking of 129. Kiwi passports allow visa-free access to 86 countries with a further 43 offering visa on arrival.

Australia ranks equal second with a score of 128, with 85 visa-free countries and 43 offering visa on arrival.

Other countries with a score of 128 are Germany, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea.

Top Ten of Global Passport Power Rank 2020

1.New Zealand 129

2.Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Australia 128

3.Sweden, Belgium, France, Finland, Italy, Spain 127

4.Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Lithuania, Norway, Iceland, UK, Canada 126

5.Malta, Slovenia, Latvia 125

6.Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Liechtenstein 124

7.Slovakia 123

8.Cyprus, Croatia, Monaco 121

9.Romania, Bulgaria 120

10.San Marino, Andorra, Uruguay 115

The rankings did not factor in that Australians are currently prevented from leaving their own country by the federal government, except under special circumstances. However, data shows Border Force is likely to approve applications from Australians who plan to leave the country for at least three months.

The number of Australians applying for or renewing a passport this year has plummeted as a result of the ban on international travel.

Hrant Boghossian from Arton Capital said Australia still enjoyed the advantage of being welcomed by more countries than most other travellers.

"Citizens of many countries don't have the opportunity to be accepted openly in as many countries as Australians do," he said. "Access is a privilege and must be used wisely, especially now in times of pandemic."

He said Australia's mobility ranking had dropped to 79 earlier in the year as the pandemic spread, placing it at equal 19th in the rankings, but had since recovered by 62 per cent to its current score of 128. This was much higher than the global average, which is only 15 per cent.

Australia's comparatively low COVID-19 infection numbers mean a large number of countries still allow Australians to enter without requiring quarantine. 

The UK, US and most of the European Union will currently allow Australians in, while on Monday Singapore also started allowing Australians to enter, with the exception of Victorians. Australia is also reportedly on a list of 10 priority countries that will be the first to be allowed to visit once Japan begins allowing tourists.

United States citizens have faced travel bans from several countries, which has seen their mobility ranking dropped to equal 21st from third place prior to the outbreak.

The world's least powerful passports remained those either involved in conflict or recovering from it, with Iraq and Afghanistan at the bottom of the list, closely followed by Syria, Somalia and Yemen.

Another passport ranking index by Henley and Partners does not take into account COVID-19-related travel restrictions and has Japan in the No.1 slot. Australia is ranked equal ninth in that list.

However, Henley and Partners did state that, taking the restrictions into account, the US would fall from equal seventh to equal 25th in its rankings.

Source: By Travel Weekly Asia |Jul 08, 2020, https://www.travelweekly-asia.com; https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/LJpm4wzOWcKsyPgsxbDHdw

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