How does the British passport fare in the list of the world’s strongest? (Picture: PA/Getty)
The most powerful passports in the world have been unveiled/ /Ross McGuinness,Yahoo News UK
With Brexit looming, the UK has slid down the list, while the passport power has shifted to Asia.
Japan and Singapore have held on to their joint top spot, with each country offering visa-free access to 189 destinations.
The UK and the US now share sixth place, the lowest position either has held since 2010. The pair were top of the list in 2014.
THE WORLD’S STRONGEST PASSPORTS:
1. Japan, Singapore
2. Finland, Germany, South Korea
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg
4. France, Spain, Sweden
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland
6. Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States
The UK, along with the US and Ireland, offers visa-free access to 183 destinations worldwide.
Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, there has been a significant increase in the number of Britons applying for an EU passport.
In 2018, the number of Britons applying for Irish passports jumped 12.5% to 183,000, the second consecutive annual increase.
Almost 2,000 Britons applied for Swedish passports last year, another record, and about four times the number who did so in 2015.
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Applications for French passports among Britons more than trebled to 1,300 in 2016, then more than doubled in 2017.
The latest ranking was compiled by the Henley Passport Index, which takes global mobility into account and is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The Henley Passport Index warned that Britain’s ranking could get even worse in the years to come.
“Throughout most of the index’s history, the UK has held one of the top five places in the ranking,” it said.
“However, with its exit from the EU now imminent, the UK’s once-strong position looks increasingly uncertain.
“The Brexit process has not yet had a direct impact on the UK’s ranking, but new research using exclusive historical data from the Henley Passport Index indicates that this could change, with consequences that extend beyond a decline in passport power.”
Dr Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and the creator of the passport index concept, said: “This latest research appears to confirm something that many of us already knew intuitively: that increased visa-openness benefits the entire global community, and not just the strongest countries.”