As the world continues to heal from Covid-19, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea have the most powerful passports. But what makes a passport powerful?

The Henley Passport Index, which is made by the immigration consulting firm Henley & Partners, measures a passport’s strength by how many countries a regular citizen can enter without having to get a full visa from the government first.

Japan starts 2023 with the world’s most powerful passport, allowing visa-free entry to 193 global destinations, according to the latest Henley Passport Index. https://t.co/bxP7Qi0LVT

— The Japan Times (@japantimes) January 11, 2023

This includes situations where no visa is needed or where travellers can easily get a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or some kind of electronic travel authority through visa-waiver programmes like the USA’s ESTA.

Here are the scores for the top ten spots on the most powerful passports in the world in 2023.

1. Japan

2. South Korea and Singapore

3. Spain and Germany

4. Italy, Finland, and Luxembourg

5. Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden

France, Ireland, Portugal, and the UK

7. Belgium, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States

8. Australia, Canada, Greece, Malta

9. Hungary, Poland

10. Lithuania, Slovakia

Henley & Partners says that a Japanese passport will get you into 194 countries without any problems in 2022. This is one more than Singapore and South Korea.

Germany and Spain are tied for third place with 190 countries that don’t require visas to enter. The UK and Ireland are in sixth place with 187 countries that don’t require visas. New Zealand and the USA are in seventh place, followed by Australia and Canada in eighth place.

As of 2017, Asian passports were not even close to being among the top 10 most accepted passports in the world. Europe is no longer as strong as it used to be, and Germany is now behind South Korea. The United States is seventh with a score of 186, while the United Kingdom is sixth with access to 187 countries.

The index, which is based on 18 years of data, helps wealthy people and governments figure out the value of citizenships around the world based on which passports give the most visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.

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