Good to know.
The Irish passport is among the most powerful in the world, polling in sixth place in a new ranking.
The Henley Passport Index grades all the world’s passports by the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
Based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, each passport is scored on the total number of destinations that the holder can gain entry to visa-free.
For each travel destination, if no visa is required, then a score of one is allocated for that passport.
This also applies if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit or an electronic travel authority upon entry.
Working from this metric, Ireland ranks sixth with a visa-free score of 187, alongside France, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Henley & Partners is proud to announce the launch of the 2023 Henley Passport Index.
To see where your passport ranks, and what visa-free access you have — view the full index, click here: https://t.co/z3Ocsi5IYq#globalcitizens #visafreetravel #passport pic.twitter.com/uMYHWgJ0RI
— Henley & Partners (@HenleyPartners) January 10, 2023
Taking the top spot for the fifth year running is Japan with a score of 193, followed by Singapore and South Korea in second place with 192.
In third place with 190 are Germany and Spain.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is in last place on the list because its citizens are only able to access 27 destinations visa-free.
In a statement, Henley and Partners – which publishes the Henley Passport Index – said: “Afghanistan remains firmly at the bottom of the index, with a score of just 27 — 166 fewer visa-free destinations than Japan, which represents the widest global mobility gap in the index’s 18-year history.”
Ireland has been consistently placed in the top 10 of the Henley Passport Index over the last decade.
A full breakdown of the latest data can be found here.
Image via Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie & iStock.
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