Indian passport now ranks at 87th number in the new World’s Most Powerful Passports List, 2022.
Henley Passport Index ranks passports of all the countries. This year, India has received the 87th rank while Japan was at the top of the list.
Why does Passport Ranking Matter?
The higher the passport in the ranking; the more access people holding it get. For instance, anyone holding Japan’s passport will have access to 193 destinations out of 227 in the list. It includes 199 countries or different passports. Access means that the citizens holding the passport won’t require getting a visa prior to their arrival in a country.
India’s 87 th ranking means Indian passport holders won’t require to get a visa before travelling to 60 countries. Some of these countries are: Jordan, Iran, Qatar, Fiji, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Serbia, Albania, Jamaica, Haiti, Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Tunisia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, El Salvador etc.
China is at 69 th position, South Korea and Singapore at 2 nd place, Russia at 50 th and Spain and Germany at 3 rd in the 2022 list. USA is at 7 th place while UK holds the 6 th place.
Some countries in the bottom 10 are Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, North Korea etc. Afghanistan has visa-free access to only 27 countries and occupies the last position in the 2022 list.
Ease of access is a boon for inbound travel. Visa before arrival is a tedious process and costs a lot of money. You may be denied a visa by a country; making it impossible for you to visit it in such a case. Visa-free entry costs less money and makes a destination more appealing to foreign tourists. An increase in inbound tourism is, of course, always good for commerce.
It also helps with foreign direct investments. Investors are likely to feel more secure visiting countries without entry restrictions.
Henley Passport Index utilized data collected from International Air Transport Association (IATA). It has been publishing the list from the last 17 years. The research team at Henley’s & Partners also helps with the process.
In the post-pandemic period, the list of visa-free destinations has increased for all nations. For instance, USA had visa-free access to 56 destinations. Now, it has access to 186 countries. Japan had access to only 76 destinations while India had visa-free entry to only 23 countries in 2020.
So, you can now book flights to India with more ease. Contact Indian Eagle for the best deals.
