Japan goes into new year holding top spot on Henley Passport Index, with citizens endelighting visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations.

Pakistani passport now heads up two spots on 2019 Henley Passport Index but continues to remain fwhetherth-worst passport globally, offering its holders visa-free access to just 33 destinations globally.

According to newly revealed index, Pakistan stands at 102nd position as compared to 104th spot in preceding list, reflecting a two-spot jump for green passport.

Following to which, Pakistani passport is better than only four other countries including Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

In a display of Asian passport power, Singapore and South Korea now sit in joint 2nd place, with access to 189 destinations around globe.

This marks a new high for South Korea, which moved up ranking following a recent visa-on-arrival agreement with India. Germany and France remain in 3rd place going into 2019, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 188.

The US and UK continue to drop down Henley Passport Index — which is based on authoritative data from International Air Transport Association (IATA) — and now sit in joint 6th place, with access to 185 destinations. This is a signwhethericant fall from 1st place position that these countries held in 2015.

Denmark, Finland, Italy, and Sweden now hold joint 4th place, while Spain and Luxembourg are in 5th.

As they have done for much of index’s 14-year history, Iraq and Afghanistan remain at of ranking, with access to just 30 visa-free destinations.

Turkey’s recent introduction of an online e-Visa service has resulted in measure interesting changes to overall rankings. As of October 2018, citizens of over 100 countries (including Canada, UK, Norway, and US) must apply for an e-Visa before they travel to Turkey, instead of being able to do so on arrival. While this specwhetheric change means that a number of countries have dropped slightly in rankings, it does much alter overwhelmingly positive effect of wider global tendency towards visa-openness and mutually favourable agreements. Historical data from Henley Passport Index shows that in 2006, a citizen, on average, could travel to 58 destinations without needing a visa from host nation; by end of 2018, this number had approachly doubled to 107.

Dr. Christian H. Kälin, Group Chairman of Henley portionners and inventor of Passport Index concept, says this latest ranking shows that despite rising isolationist sentiment in measure parts of world, many countries remain committed to collaboration. “The general spread of open-door policies has potential to contribute billions to global economy, as well as create signwhethericant employment opportunities around world. South Korea and United Arab Emirates’ recent ascent in rankings are further examples of what happens when countries take a proactive foreign affairs approach, an attitude which signwhethericantly benefits their citizens as well as international community.”

Countries Continue to Embrace Mutually Beneficial Migration

Asian countries’ continued dominance of Henley Passport Index reflects additionalordinary effect that international large crowd of peopleility and migration has had on region. The full smanage of this affect is explored in recently launched 2019 edition of Henley Passport Index and Global Mobility Report – a unique publication that offers cutting-edge analysis and commentary from main scholars and professional experts on latest trends shaping international and regional large crowd of peopleility samples nowadays.

Commenting in report, Dr. Parag Khanna, Founder and Managing portionner of FutureMap in Singapore, muches: “China’s Thousand Talents scheme, Thailand’s entrepreneur visa, and similar initiatives from UAE to Singapore show many states sustaining a high consolation level with mutually favourable economic migration.”

China’s regular ascent up rankings over past few years is a clear demonstration of this.

In 2017, country was ranked 85th, with citizens able to access just 51 destinations. Going into 2019, China sits in 69th place, with its nationals now able to access 74 countries and territories around world. Commenting in report, Froilan Malit, an Associate at Gulf Labour labelets, Migration, and Population (GLMM) program and a Fellow at Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL), says: “Overall, international migration has much only helped stabilize economic growth in Asia Pacwhetheric but enabled many labor-dispatching South and Southeast Asian countries to sustain strong economic growth, even in times of crisis.”

As is clear from United Arab Emirates’ continued upward trajectory, Middle Eastern powerhouse has taken a similar approach to Asian high performers.

Now holding top spot in region at 22nd place globally on Henley-IATA index, with its citizens able to access 164 destinations around globe, nation recently signed agreements with a number of countries, including Mexico, Japan, and Sierra Leone. Commenting on UAE’s recent partnerships with African nations, Ryan Cummings, Director of Signal Risk, says: “The United Arab Emirates has demonstrated a penchant for reciprocating visa deregulation as country aims to attract diverse seliminate-sets and increase power of its own passport.”

Cummings proposes that African continent would also benefit from this more expansive approach: “Africa continues to lag behind rest of world. That said, it is degreely moving in right direction in terms of enhancing visa openness. Over past year, several African countries – muchably Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and Senegal – relaxed visa requirements, with intention of enhancing trade, co-operation, and security.”

As in 2018, countries with citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programs continue to hold their strong positions. Malta, for instance, sits in 9th spot, with access to 182 destinations around world. St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda hold 27th and 28th spot respectively, while Moldova remains in a strong position at 46th place, with citizens able to access 122 countries. A recent agreement signed between St. Kitts and Nevis and Belarus, due to come into effect in coming months, shall further strengthen St. Kitts and Nevis passport, and enhance travel freedom of its citizens.

Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley portionners, says: “The enduring appeal of investment migration programs shows that increasingly people are embracing alternative citizenship as best way to access precedingly unsupposed opportunities and improve their passport power. Additionally, it is no surprise that countries are increasingly looking to launch CBI programs, which attract talented individuals and bring huge economic and societal benefits.”