Everything was normal until the coronavirus epidemic hit. The world was enjoying more freedom of travel than at any time in history. Suddenly the ban came down.
The Henley Passport Index publishes a ranking of the most travel-friendly or powerful passports each year. It recently published the 2020 Passport Rankings. The strongest passport has been selected from Japan. Holders of Japanese passports receive visa-free or on-arrival visas at a total of 191 destinations.
Singapore is in the second position in the list. The score of this small city-state of Asia is 190. South Korea and Germany are in third place with 179 scores.
Henley’s index does not generally take into account temporary travel bans. As a result, the ranking points of the Henley Index do not match the visa-free or on-arrival visa facility of different countries at the moment.
Europe closed its doors to citizens of 14 countries last week after the border was closed for months due to the Corona epidemic. Europe has opened its doors to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada (ranked 9th in the Henley rankings) as the European Union (EU) has improved its quality index on corona-related health care. However, the United States, Brazil and Russia failed to control the epidemic.
Although the United States is seventh in Henley’s current index, its citizens are entitled to travel equal to the 25th in Mexico and the 26th in Uruguay due to EU sanctions. Although Brazil is 19th in the rankings, in the current reality their position is equal to 36th Paraguay.
Singapore, which is at the top of the list, is also far behind the top countries in the rankings as it has been dropped from the European Union’s list of travel beneficiaries.
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