UAE passport recognized as 'most powerful' in the world

In Arton's annual authoritative ranking of the most "powerful" passports in the world, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) passport was in first place - it allows the holder to freely or with a visa on arrival visit 167 countries. At the end of October, in the latest update of the Henley & Partners Passport Index , Japan was the leader, while the UAE ranked only 21st with the opportunity to freely visit 161 countries. Immediately behind the leaders in both ratings are the passports of Singapore and Germany, and Russia in them - in the fourth and fifth tens, respectively.

Methodology. rating The Arton takes into account the passports of 199 countries, including all UN members, but does not take into account a number of territories that it considers annexed and where there are no passports of their own (for example, French Polynesia and the British Virgin Islands). The data is based on the company's own research, which is based on open sources and information provided by government agencies. Index The Henley & Partners is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), includes passports from 199 countries and data from 227 travel destinations (including unrecognized territories). It is updated throughout the year as new visa regulations come into effect.

Arton rating. As of the end of 2018, Arton calls the UAE passport the most “powerful”: you need to apply for a visa in advance using such a passport only to 31 countries, you can freely visit 167 countries with it. Next come Singapore and Germany (with their passports you can visit 166 countries without a pre-arranged visa). Third place was shared by 11 countries at once, whose citizens can visit 165 countries without preparation: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, South Korea and the USA.

Russia occupies the 38th place in the rating (and shares it with the Pacific state of the Marshall Islands). With a Russian passport, you can enter 116 countries without a visa (or with a visa upon arrival), but when traveling to 82 states, you will have to take care of a visa in advance. Of the post-Soviet countries, Latvia and Lithuania are ahead (7th place, 161 countries), Estonia (8th place, 160 countries) and Ukraine (28th place, 131 countries without the need to apply for a visa in advance).

Henley & Partners rating . Henley & Partners put Japan in first place - the passport of this country allows you not to warn in advance about the arrival of the authorities of 190 countries. In second place is Singapore (189 countries), followed by Germany, France and South Korea (188 countries each). The UAE passport, according to this methodology, shared 21st place with Israel and Barbados, it allows you to enter 161 countries without warning.

Russia is in the 47th place in the ranking. Of the post-Soviet countries, Russia is ahead of Latvia and Lithuania (11th line, without visas in 179 countries), Estonia (12th line, 178 countries), Ukraine (41st line, 128 countries) and Moldova (46th line, 122 countries).

Find out more. Passports of some countries ahead of Russia in the ranking can be bought through direct investment in real estate or local business, follows from the rating Bloomberg , which we talked about in the summer. In particular, an Austrian passport (4th and 5th place in the ratings of passports) will cost $ 23.75 million, Malta (6th and 7th line) - a little more than $ 1 million, Cyprus (10th and 15th place) - $ 2.3 million.

Artem Gubenko