Sheila Ponnie
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan’s passport rating climbed four places on the global mobility ranking announced in January 2023.
According to the Henley Passport Index Report released on Wednesday, the South Sudanese passport ranks at position 98, an improvement from the 101 positions it was ranked at last year. The holders can visit 44 countries without a visa or obtain one on arrival.
The mobility score counts the number of countries that a passport holder could also visit without the need for a visa or the countries where they could obtain a visa on arrival.
In the annual rankings produced in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association, Mauritius is ranked 34th globally but first in Africa. Holders of a Mauritius passport can visit 146 countries.
South Africa comes in second in Africa but is ranked 53rd globally. They have the ability to visit 106 countries. Holders of Botswana passport can visit 87 countries in the world making it the third strongest passport in Africa and 63rd globally.
Namibia comes fourth in Africa but 67th overall, and its people have the opportunity to visit 87 countries. Lesotho (69), which can visit 77 countries, eSwatini (71) and its citizens can visit 75 countries, and Malawi (72), which can visit 74 countries, are the other African countries with impressive passport performance ratings.
Kenya is ranked 73rd, and her citizens can visit 73 countries.
Another East African Community member – Tanzania is ranked a place below Kenya, at 74th while Uganda is 78th. Holders of the two documents can visit Holder of the document can visit 72 and 67 countries respectively.
Rwanda is placed 83 (61 countries) while Burundi is ranked 93 with access to 50 countries.
“The index and its contents are based on data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and supplemented, enhanced, and updated through extensive in-house research and open-source online data.”
There are 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations in the index. The Henley Passport Index, which is updated quarterly, is the most robust and reliable index of its kind. According to the report,
“The report also provided conditions and criteria stating that for each travel destination, if no visa is required for passport holders from a country or territory, then a score of 1 is created for that passport.,”
A score with value = 1 is also applied if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.
Based on the report, these visa-types require no pre-departure government approval, because of the specific visa-waiver programs in place.
“Where a visa is required, or where a passport holder has to obtain a government-approved electronic visa (e-Visa) before departure, a score with value = 0 is assigned. A score with value = 0 is also assigned if passport holders need pre-departure government approval for a visa on arrival, a scenario we do not consider ‘visa-free,”
The report also indicated total score for each passport is equal to the number of destinations for which no visa is required (value = 1), under the conditions defined above.
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