Islamabad (National Times) For the fourth straight year, the Pakistani passport has been ranked the fourth worst by this year\u2019s Henley Passport Index, a ranking of the world\u2019s 199 passports according to the number of destinations their owners can access without a prior visa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the latest ranking issued on Tuesday, Pa\u00ad\u00adkistan\u2019s travel docum\u00adent (100th place \u2014 tied with Yemen) is only ranked higher than those of Iraq (101), Syria (102) and Afghanistan (103) \u2014 same as last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan and Yemen\u2019s passports permit visa-free access to 33 states, Iraq\u2019s allows travel to 31, Syria\u2019s gives access to 28 destinations and Afghanistan\u2019s travel document only affords the bearer access to 26 destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfghanistan remains firmly entrenched as the world\u2019s weakest passport, losing access to yet another destination over the past six months, leaving its citizens with access to only 26 countries visa-free \u2014 the lowest score ever recorded in history of the 19-year-old index,\u201d a press release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top spot yet again belonged to Singapore, as its passport provides citizens visa-free access to 195 destinations, setting a \u201cnew record score\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany, Italy, Japan, France and Spain tied for 2nd place, with each passport allowing access to 192 destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 3rd place were Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden with access to 191 destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Kingdom was ranked 4th with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland with access to 190 states while the United States ranked 8th with access to 186 destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also notable was the entry of the United Arab Emirates into the top 10 for the first time, having added an \u201cimpressive\u201d 152 destinations since the index\u2019s inception in 2006 to achieve its current visa-free score of 185, and rising a \u201cremarkable\u201d 53 places in the ranking from 62nd to 9th position in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The press release quoted Henley & Partners CEO Dr Juerg Steffen as saying that the UAE\u2019s \u201cmeteoric ascent\u201d was the result of \u201cdeliberate and concerted efforts by the Emirati government to position the UAE as a global hub for business, tourism, and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur research has consistently shown a strong correlation between a country\u2019s visa-free score and its economic prosperity. Nations with higher visa-free scores tend to enjoy greater GDP per capita, increased foreign direct investment and more robust international trade relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad (National Times) For the fourth straight year, the Pakistani passport has been ranked the fourth worst by this year\u2019s Henley Passport Index, a ranking of the world\u2019s 199 passports according to the number of destinations their owners can access without a prior visa. In the latest ranking issued on Tuesday, Pa\u00ad\u00adkistan\u2019s travel docum\u00adent (100th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n