"What makes a passport powerful? Well, a clear measure is travel openness, the ability to slip into destinations around the world with a breezy wave of your passport, no visa required. The Henley Passport Index is one of several rankings measuring passport potency in this regard and, for the first time in its 20-year history, the US passport has fallen out of its top 10 list altogether."
"Three Asian passports now command the top of the leaderboard: Singapore, with visa-free access to 193 destinations worldwide; South Korea, with access to 190; and Japan, with 189. The United States, meanwhile, is down in 12th place in the latest quarterly ranking, tied with Malaysia. Citizens of both nations enjoy visa-free access to 180 of the 227 countries and territories tracked by the index."
"And because Henley counts multiple countries with the same score as a single spot in its standings, there are actually 36 countries that outrank the US on the list. Declining strength' Back in 2014, the US held the No.1 spot, and in July this year it was still clinging onto the top 10. So what's behind this further descent? It's down to a series of access changes."
"In April, Brazil withdrew visa-free access for citizens from the US, Canada and Australia due to a lack of reciprocity. China has been introducing more welcoming policies, offering visa exemptions for dozens of mostly European countries, including Germany and France, but the US hasn't made the cut. Papua New Guinea and Myanmar have also tweaked their entry policies, which boosted other passports' rankings while further eroding that of the US."
Henley Passport Index rankings show Singapore (visa-free access to 193 destinations), South Korea (190), and Japan (189) leading global passport strength. The US passport now ranks 12th, tied with Malaysia, offering visa-free access to 180 of 227 destinations. Henley counts tied scores as a single spot, leaving 36 countries ahead of the US. The US held the No.1 position in 2014 and remained in the top 10 as recently as July. Recent entry-policy changes, including Brazil withdrawing US visa-free access and expanded Chinese exemptions favoring Europeans, have weakened US passport standing.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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