(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
M Mazharul Haque
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The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar has been ranked 46th globally with visa-free access to 107 destinations, compared to 55th with visa-free access to 100 destinations in January 2023, moving up nine places in the ranking of world's 199 passports on the latest edition of Henley Passport Index.
In 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, the country ranked 57th, 54th, 60th and 57th respectively.
Among the GCC countries, Qatar is in the second place after the UAE which is ranked 9th in the global ranking with visa-free access to 185 destinations. Kuwait is ranked 49th, Saudi Arabia 56th, Bahrain 57th and Oman 58th with visa-free access to 99, 88, 87, 86 destinations respectively.
Singapore tops the list with visa-free access to 195 destinations. The second place is shared by France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain with visa-free access to 192 destinations. The third place is shared by Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden with visa-free access to 191 destinations.
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“The UK hangs onto fourth place along with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, despite its visa-free destination score falling to 190. The US, on the other hand, continues its now decade-long slide down the index, dropping down to eighth spot, with access to just 186 destinations visa-free.
"Former passport powerhouses, the UK and the US jointly held first place on the index 10 years ago in 2014,” the report said.
“Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched as the world's weakest passport, losing access to yet another destination over the past six months, leaving its citizens with access to only 26 countries visa-free - the lowest score ever recorded in history of the 19-year-old index.”
Dr. Christian H Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, said,“The general trend over the past two decades has been towards greater travel freedom, with the global average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024. However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access a record-breaking 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.”
China and Ukraine are among the top 10 countries that have climbed the highest in the ranking over the past decade.
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