India fares poorly in global ranking of passports -Governance Now

India fares poorly in global ranking of passports

Germany is in the lead, with Singapore in second place

GN Bureau | January 18, 2017

#Passport Index #India #passport issuance #visa

India has the 81st position on the Passport Index, the real-time global ranking of the world’s passports. It is ahead of its neighbours Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Passports of the world are ranked by their total visa-free score.

Nepal is in the 90th position, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka share the 92nd position. Pakistan ranks a low 97.

Read: Inordinate delays in passport issuance: CAG report

Germany takes the lead with a visa-free score of 157. Singapore overtakes South Korea and becomes the highest ranked Asian passport, with a visa free score of 156, coming second. South Korea fell to 6th place (152), while Japan, rose to 4th place, tied with European countries like Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and others whose visa-free score is 154. Visa-free score represents the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Also read: Get passports in 10 days with Aadhaar, police verification later

In addition to the popular mosaic of passports, visitors of PassportIndex.org can now see the overall changes to the ranking of countries in 2016. Marshall Islands is on top of the winners’ list by adding 35 countries to its visa-free score. Palau, Micronesia, follow with 34 additional countries, while Solomon Islands and Tuvalu added 33. Peru is the biggest winner in South America with additional 31 countries.

Read: Single parent can now apply for child’s passport

In recent years, citizenship by investment has become a $2 billion industry, with over 20,000 investors seeking a second residency or citizenship around the globe every year.

Also read: The passport ranking 2017

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