Written by Thu-Huong Ha from qz.com
The world’s governments have spoken. Germany’s citizens are the travelers most welcome to cross their borders.
The Henley Passport Index, an annual ranking of passport power by the citizenship planning firm, came out today for 2018. Germany is at the top for the fifth year in a row, with visa-free or visa-upon-arrival access to 177 countries, up from 176 last year. (In February 2017, Belarus introduced a five-day visa-free visit available to citizens of 80 countries, including Germany.)
A separate ranking called Passport Index is published by the global financial advisory company Arton Capital, and is updated in real time. Last October, Passport Index briefly put Singapore at the top of the world’s power passports. According to its count, updated after Paraguay relaxed its visa requirements for Singapore, its citizens could access 159 countries with no application, meaning no visa would be required or a visa could be obtained upon arrival.