Stephane Tajick
Last updated: January 3, 2018
The 2018 STC Passport Index is out!
The 2018 STC Passport Index ranks every country in the world based on the quality of their passport. Over 200 countries & territories are reviewed and updated on an annual basis. The ranking also offers valuable information regarding the number of visa-free destinations, dual citizenship and more. The STC Passport index was launched in 2016 and remains the only one that indexes visa-free destinations according to their popularity and authorized length of stay.
The 2018 STC Passport Index has been simplified this year. We spent our time finding the most accurate and simple way for a Global Citizen to evaluate the value of a passport. Simply giving the number of visa-free countries one can travel can be deceiving. Only a few countries are truly valuable to those who are considering a second passport. For example, Barbados has a Visa-Free Count of 136, and Bermuda also has a Visa-Free Count of 136. An inaccurate passport Index would rank Barbados passport as equal to that of the Bahamas. In reality, however, the Bahamian passport is more valuable than its Barbadian counterpart because it allows visa-free travel to the United States. This is one reason why the visa-free score is deceiving, as countries can assign visa waivers to tiny jurisdictions to increase their score and give the illusion that their passport will enable you to travel to the places you desire. Our analysis of the travel world left us with the conclusion that two regions are key to those looking to buy a passport: Europe and the USA. Other important destinations like the UK, China or Russia don’t carry as much weight. Passports with the label US & EU are the most valuable and represent the “Gold Standard” for passports. Generally speaking, visa-free travel to the US comes with an additional 130 other countries. In practical terms, most passports with visa-free travel to the US also offer visa-free travel to Europe.
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