Canada ranks below 23 nations for having a passport where citizens can enjoy visa-free access, according to the latest Global Passport Ranking report from London, England-based Henley & Partners.
Canadians this summer can travel visa-free to 187 of 227 countries ranked in the study.
BIV last wrote about a Henley & Partners Global Passport Ranking report in January, when the report listed Canadians as being able to travel to 188 countries visa-free, which was below 25 other nations.
That report is now missing from Henley & Partners' website. The most recent report on that website, before today's one, is one from early 2023, when Canadians could travel visa-free to 185 countries.
Compared to January, however, Canadian passport holders had a net loss of one country where they could travel visa-free. Brazil is newly included as being a country where Canadians can travel visa free, while Togo and Gabon newly require Canadians to have visas.
The Brazil visa situation is ever-changing for Canadians.
Brazil, in the twenty-tens, had required Canadians to have visas, with that lasting until former president Jair Bolsonaro announced that he was lifting the visa requirement starting June 17, 2019.
Visa-free access happened.
The Brazilian government headed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva then said it planned to reinstate visa requirements for Canadians as of April 2024.
This was perhaps because Canada requires visas from Brazilians who want to visit Canada.
Many Canadians bought visas for trips, anticipating that Brazil would make good on its promise to require visas starting in April. Brazil processed those visas and payments for the visas, one recent Canadian traveller to Brazil told BIV.
Officially, however, Brazil has pushed off the implementation date for Canadians needing visas to April 10, 2025.
The result is that Henley & Partners newly considers it as a visa-free nation for Canadians.
It was not immediately clear why Togo and Gabon changed rules to require Canadians to have visas to enter.
Singapore tops all nations with visa-free access to 195 countries
Singapore this summer is alone in top spot, with passport holders having visa-free access to 195 countries, out of the 227 nations in the report.
In a report in early 2023, Singapore ranked in a second-place tie with South Korea, with visa-free access to 192 countries. That was behind only Japan, which in early 2023 had visa-free access to 193 countries.
Japan this summer slipped into a five-way tie for second place, with visa-free access to 192 countries.
Others now tied with Japan include France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Tied for seventh place, with visa-free access to 191 countries, are:
- Austria;
- Finland;
- Ireland;
- Luxembourg;
- Netherlands;
- South Korea; and
- Sweden.
Tied for 14th spot, with visa-free access to 190 countries, are:
- Belgium;
- Denmark;
- New Zealand;
- Norway;
- Switzerland; and
- United Kingdom.
Two countries are tied for 20th spot worldwide, with visa-free access to 189 countries: Australia and Portugal.
The only other two countries with more visa-free access than Canada are Greece and Poland, with 188 countries accepting their nationals without visas.
Canada is joined in the No. 24 spot with Czechia, Hungary and Malta, whose citizens can also visit 187 countries visa-free. That makes Canada the country in the Americas that has the most visa-free access for its citizens.
The United States is alone in the No. 28 spot on Henley & Partners’ index, with citizens able to visit 186 countries visa-free.
Many countries have weak passports
Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched as the world’s weakest passport, losing access to yet another destination over the past six months, leaving its citizens with access to only 26 countries visa-free — the lowest score ever recorded in history of the 19-year-old index.
The next weakest passport this year is the one from Syria, where citizens can only enter 28 countries without a visa.
Other countries with weak passports include:
• Iraq, with visa-free access to 31 nations;
• Yemen, with visa-free access to 33 nations; and
• Pakistan, with visa-free access to 33 nations.
