Việt Nam's navy-blue cover passports. — Photo from the Immigration Department

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s passports have climbed four rankings to 88th place in the latest passport power index for the first quarter of 2023 by Henley & Partners.

According to the report, which scores the passports on the total number of destinations that the holder can access visa-free, Vietnamese passports enable visa-free travel to 55 destinations, placing it in the same ranking as four countries in Africa – namely Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Madagascar, and Togo.

In the final quarter of 2022, Việt Nam stood in 92nd place.

Currently, Japanese passports are the most powerful in the world, as the holders can access 193 destinations without the need for visas. Singapore and South Korea share second place with 192 visa-free destinations.

The 5th to 13th spots are passports of European countries (Germany and Spain in 3rd place, Finland and Italy 4th, etc.), and the United States (7th place with 187 destinations), and Australia (8th place with 185 destinations).

The bottom places of the passport list is mostly conflict-hit countries – Afghanistan (109th place with 27 destinations), Iraq (108th place with 29 destinations), Syria (107th place with 30 destinations).

The ranking in the Henley Passport Index is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and is enhanced by the Henley & Partners Research Department, according to the report.

The index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations.

For each travel destination, if no visa is required, then a score of 1 is allocated for that passport. This also applies if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) upon entry.

Where a visa is required, or where a passport holder must apply for a government-approved electronic visa (e-Visa) before departure, a score of 0 is assigned. The same applies if they need pre-departure approval for a visa on arrival. — VNS