UAE leads GCC in updated Passport Index

Globally, Germany is the best passport to have in terms of visa-free or visa on arrival travel.

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DUBAI // The UAE passport is the most valuable in the GCC, according to a global ranking of the world’s passports.

Arton Capital, a financial advisory firm specialising in investor programmes for residence and citizenship, has updated its Passport Index, which ranks national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a “visa-free score” according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

The Emirates is the leading GCC country with a score of 122, followed by Kuwait (81) and Qatar with a score of 77. The lowest-scoring Mena countries are war-torn Iraq and Syria, while the world’s least-desirable passport goes again to Afghanistan, with a score of just 23. Pakistan (26), Sri Lanka (35) and India (46) highlight the continued lack of access for South Asian passports.

A German passport earned the highest visa-free score of 157. Singapore overtook South Korea to become the highest-ranked Asian passport and second-highest ranked in the world, with a visa-free score of 156.

The top passports in the world to have are: Germany (157), Singapore (156), Sweden (156), Denmark (155), Finland (155), France (155), Spain (155), Switzerland (155), Norway (155), the United Kingdom and the Unided States (155).

The Passport Index offers an online interactive tool that shows real-time global ranking of passports. It is updated as frequently as new visa waivers and changes are announced. Visitors to passportindex.org can search global passports, explore their designs, sort them by country, region and even by colour.

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