Singapore takes top place (with Germany) as the world’s most powerful passport

First, we heard that the Singapore passport was ranked second most powerful in the world on the 2017 Passport Index. Then there was the global index ranking of travel freedom, where Singapore came in fourth. Now, apparently Singapore’s made it to the top — alongside Germany, that is. How many passport indexes are there, and how many times do they want to rank our travel documents?

Thanks to a revision in the visa rules of Ukraine, Singapore has tied with Germany as the country with the world’s most powerful passport. This is all according to the aforementioned 2017 Passport Index by global financial advisory firm, Arton Capital. Ukraine’s change in visa rules — which included Singapore on the list of countries whose passport holders only have to apply for visa-on-arrival for travel of up to 15 days — was put into place last Sunday (Apr. 16).

So Singapore’s total visa-free score went up a notch: to 158.

However, in terms of visa-free travel, Germany has the edge over Singapore. Germans can travel to 125 countries without a visa, whereas Singaporeans only can travel to 122. But Singapore beats Germany when it comes to the visa-on-arrival score: 37 to 34.

Whatever it is, we’re still on top. Till the next passport index announcement, folks.