Singapore may be one of the smallest countries in the world—but don’t underestimate the power of its signature red passport. In 2026, the island country has once again clinched the title of the world’s strongest passport.
On Tuesday, January 13, Henley & Partners released its annual 2026 Henley Passport Index, which ranks 199 of the world’s passports by the number of countries they allow their holders to travel to visa-free. The residency and citizenship consultancy firm used its internal research and official proprietary data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to create the power list.
This year, Asian countries have dominated the top of the ranks. Like in 2025, the Singaporean passport continues to defend its first-place record, unlocking access to 192 visa-free destinations. Japan similarly retained second place—although now joined by South Korea (which was ranked third in 2025)—with the ability to travel to 188 nations visa-free.
From there, five European passports share the title of the third-most powerful with visa-free access to 186 nations: Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. And European passports continued their sweep into fourth-place, with 10 countries—Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, and Norway—providing visa-free travel to 185 countries.
The United Arab Emirates broke the European block, tying in fifth-place (alongside Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia) with options to visit 184 countries without a visa. Over recent years, the UAE has seen a particularly dramatic accession on the list with the addition of 149 visa-free destinations since 2006. Last year, it ranked 10th.
The United States slipped down one rung to 10th place (with 179 destinations) from its ninth-place ranking in 2025 (with 186 destinations). Across the pond, the United Kingdom ranked in seventh place with visa-free travel to 182 countries. It’s a notable decline from the year prior, when the UK held onto fifth place with access to 190 countries. Both moves signal a dramatic tumble: The UK and the US previously shared the first-place title in 2014.
Global mobility trends for 2026
Like last year, Afghanistan fell to the bottom of Henley & Partners’ list with visa-free access to only 24 countries (down two from the year prior). Between Afghanistan and Singapore, the 168 difference in access to visa-free countries is a stark example of “passport privilege,” especially during a year that IATA predicts will see a record number of travelers.
“Today, passport privilege plays a decisive role in shaping opportunity, security, and economic participation, with rising average access masking a reality in which mobility advantages are increasingly concentrated among the world’s most economically powerful and politically stable nations,” Christian H. Kaelin, the creator of the index and chairman at Henley & Partners, said in the news release.
With this, Henley & Partners has continued to see an influx of travelers seeking to diversify their residency and citizenship portfolios, particularly from Americans, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, and British citizens. Heavy on the former: American citizens now make up most of its clients amid “ongoing political turbulence,” Peter J. Spiro, a professor at Temple University Law School, said in the news release.
Amid this trend, a growing number of nations are taking note of these increased migration patterns. In the last year alone, several countries with passports stronger than the US (such as Malaysia, New Zealand, and Greece) have launched multi-year residency-by-investment golden visa opportunities.
