The Passport Index by Global Residence Index™ provides a comprehensive ranking of countries worldwide based on the strength and benefits of their passports.
It evaluates over 204 countries and territories, updating the data regularly. This ranking is unique not only in terms of the number of visa-free travel destinations it considers but also in its analysis of dual citizenship opportunities and more.
Since 2016, the Passport Index by Global Residence Index™ stands out as the only tool that categorizes visa-free destinations by their popularity and the permitted length of stay.
This approach is crucial because simply listing the number of visa-free countries can be misleading.
For example, while both Barbados and Bermuda have a Visa-Free Count of 136, the Bahamian passport is more advantageous than the Barbadian one due to its visa-free access to the United States.
Such nuances are often overlooked in other indexes, which may inflate their scores by including visa waivers from smaller, less significant jurisdictions. This can create a false perception of the actual travel freedom a passport offers.
Our analysis indicates that Europe and the USA are the most sought-after regions for passport acquisition. Other major destinations like the UK, China, and Russia are less influential in this context.
Passports granting entry to the US and EU are deemed the most valuable, setting the „Gold Standard” in passport rankings.
Journalists and other publishers: We invite journalists and content creators to utilize the insights provided by the Global Residence Index in your publications. We kindly request that you attribute the source and include a link to our website to allow readers to explore our data and tools further.
Gain a Powerful Passport through Investment
Methodology
The data presented here was initially collected in summer 2020 and latest updated in January 2025. It does not include temporary restrictions due to COVID-19. Visa Information was taken from the official government websites (see SOURCES on the website). The electronic visa delivery times were taken from the relevant official government websites (see SOURCES on the website). There are discrepancies between the IATA timatic website and information provided by governments, which makes it difficult to evaluate the reliability of some information. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that all our information is correct. Nevertheless, we spent additional time looking into each country’s policy to determine the visa policy of each, above and beyond what is commonly known and accessible on timatic.
Status GOLD: Visa-free travel to the US & EU
SILVER: Visa-free travel to the EU
BRONZE: Visa-free travel to the UK
Destinations: We have included in our list of countries all the nations recognized by the UN, with the addition of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Kosovo. Our list of countries can vary with other passport rankings, thus giving different visa-free counts.
Visa-Free: Visa-free travel includes all destinations accessible by visa-free travel, visa-on-arrival, electronic visas delivered in under 24h and visa-free on transit for lengths of more than 24h. Stays via transit allow the traveller to access the country without holding a visa, as long as its final destination is somewhere else.
Passport Value: The passport Value is estimated based on the current market price and at the demand/supply equilibrium of 1000 applications a year. This is estimated for 1 applicant per application. It represents only the value of the passport as a travel document and does not include additional benefits derived from being a national.
Passport Index: The index is a result of the ability to travel visa-free to a given territory relative to its importance as a destination and the amount of time one is allowed to stay there. The importance is based on the number of annual travellers to a given country (as compiled annually by UNWTO) and how long a traveller is allowed to stay in the jurisdiction.
Dual Citizenship: Elaborates on the possibility of obtaining dual citizenship. In some cases, you will need to refer to the notes for a more detailed explanation.
Length of Stay: Length of stay may include extensions or extended stays available for purchase on arrival. Length of stay is normally for tourist reasons unless visa-free access is possible only for business reasons.
