Akin to Game of Thrones, the seat of supremacy keeps changing for the world’s most powerful passport. The past couple of months have seen Singapore and Japan being neck and neck on the top echelons of the Henley Passport Index, but as of yesterday, the Land of the Rising Sun reigns with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations compared to the Little Red Dot’s 189.
The latest results in the index: Japan claims top spot, Singapore is in second place while Germany — the former holder of the most powerful passports — has fallen further to third place, tying with South Korea and France. Japan recently overtook Singapore after gaining visa-free access to Myanmar earlier this month, according to Henley & Partners.
Other notable changes include both the United States and the UK sliding down a spot to 5th place, while the United Arab Emirates now holds 21st place globally, the most powerful passport in the Middle East.
Just last May, Japan first took down Singapore from the latter’s long-held pole position after the Henley Passport Index stated that the Japanese passport allows visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 189 destinations, putting Singapore in second place with Germany at 188 destinations. But then Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted the claims that the country imposed a visa regime on Singapore passport holders, meaning that our passports officially tied with Japan’s in first place.
That has officially changed right now.
