Singapore now has world’s most powerful passport

Paraguay’s removal of visa requirements for Singaporeans has propelled Singapore’s passport ahead of Germany and to the top of Passport Index’ most powerful ranking with a visa-free score of 159.

Historically, the top 10 most powerful passports in the world were mostly European, with Germany having the lead for the past two years.

Singapore climbed into a tie with Germany in April this year

Since early 2017, the number one position was shared with Singapore, which was steadily climbing the ranks. Other Asian passports in the top 20 include those of South Korea, Japan and Malaysia.

“For the first time ever an Asian country has the most powerful passport in the world,” said Philippe May, managing director of Arton Capital’s Singapore office. “It is a testament of Singapore’s inclusive diplomatic relations and effective foreign policy.”

In contrast, the US passport has fallen since Trump took office, with Turkey and the Central African Republic most recently revoking their visa-free status to US passport holders.

Developed by Arton Capital, a leading global advisory for residence and citizenship solutions, the Passport Index has become the most popular interactive online tool to display, sort and rank the world’s passports. The Index ranks national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a “visa-free score” according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

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