The world's most powerful passports in the era of the coronavirus pandemic

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How powerful is your passport? (2019) 1:09

(CNN) - Just a couple of months ago, the world enjoyed greater freedom of movement than at any other time in history.

Air traffic had steadily increased for decades. The Henley Passport Index, which measures the most travel-friendly passports in the world, announced in January that Japan had topped its 2020 ranking, as its citizens could visit 191 destinations, a record, without requiring a visa in advance.

Across the world, citizens enjoyed visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 107 destinations on average, nearly double the 58 destinations that were open to the average traveler when registration began in 2006.

• These are the world's most (and least) powerful passports for 2020

But today, with 93% of the world population living in countries with travel bans due to the coronavirus pandemic, the playing field has temporarily leveled off.

Having lost the freedom of movement that we once took for granted, what are the long and short term impacts to passport power in 2020 and beyond?

CNN Travel spoke exclusively with Christian Kälin, creator of the Henley Passport Index, sometimes known as “The Passport King”.

Asia in the lead

"It is a very simple measure," says Kälin of the Index, which is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations. "It is a broad reflection of geopolitical relations and a measure of the openness of countries."

Japan has held its position at the top of the leaderboard by entering the second quarter of 2020, Singapore in second, and Germany and South Korea tied for third.

Luxembourg and Spain join Italy and Finland in fourth place, while Austria has risen to join Denmark in fifth place. The Index is updated in real time throughout the year, as changes in visa policy come into effect.

However, the unprecedented circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic have, in some cases, changed the power of passports.

“Look at Spain, or any other country that has a complete blockade. Before, as a Spanish citizen, you had one of the best passports in the world in terms of free travel, ”explains Kälin. "Now, if you were also a citizen of Bangladesh, normally a very bad passport to travel without a visa, you could freely go to the airport and board a flight, if you find it, and leave Spain."

Health security

Kälin believes that the pandemic will not have a long-term impact on the Passport Index, and that things are likely to be more or less normal again.

However, “if you look at this current crisis, health aspects - the quality of the health system, the quality of emergency care, access to health coverage and healthy service - have suddenly emerged. That has never been a visa policy consideration until now. ”

While politics is generally guided by "issues of the country's greatest economic and geopolitical importance," Kälin says it will be interesting to see if future health security will be a more important factor when it comes to visa exemptions.

According to him, it is worth noting that the Passport Index is an effective, but crude tool to compare geopolitical influence. The United States is more attractive as a business and leisure destination than North Korea, for example, but the Index classifies visa-free access to each as of equal value.

He says that the Nationality Quality Index, which he also developed, is "much more sophisticated" with an "elaborate methodology" that covers GDP, human development, internal peace and settlement rights.

Performance is relative

Japan is at number 1 in the Passport Index; The United States is at number 7, but the Nationality Quality Index places them at number 26 and 25, respectively.

"Japan is a great country, but you can only live in Japan," explains Kälin. “With the American passport you can only live in the United States. You even need a settlement permit to go to Canada. "

Compare that with the generous settlement rights enjoyed by citizens of the European Union, or the 15 countries that make up the Caribbean Community.

As for the repercussions of Brexit for the United Kingdom, "there will probably not be many changes" in the Passport Index, says Kälin, "because you can still go on vacation to Spain." But in the Nationality Index Quality, Britain will probably lose significantly. Suddenly, you cannot settle in Spain [if you have a British passport], you need a permit ”.

• How many valid passports for tourism are there in your country? In Colombia they already have three

"Beyond our control"

Ireland is only one place above the United Kingdom in the Passport Index at number 6. However, an unprecedented 900,000 Irish passports were issued in 2019, due to a steady increase in applicants for British residents since the vote on the Brexit, in 2016.

This increase can be attributed to the convenience of freedom of movement offered by being a citizen of the European Union. "In terms of passport power, Ireland is still similar to the UK, but in terms of nationality quality, Ireland is suddenly better," explains Kälin.

The expert said in a statement, “The past few weeks have made it clear that freedom of travel depends on factors that may occasionally be completely out of our control.

"Although public health and safety concerns take precedence over everything else now, this is an opportunity to reflect on what freedom of movement and citizenship essentially means for those of us who have perhaps taken them for granted in the past."

The best passports in 2020 are:

1. Japan (191 destinations)

2. Singapore (190)

3. South Korea and Germany (189)

4. Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg (188)

5. Denmark and Austria (187)

6. Sweden, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal (186)

7. USA, UK, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland (185)

8. Czech Republic, Greece, Malta and New Zealand (184)

9. Canada and Australia (183)

10. Hungary (182)

Other indices

The Henley & Partners list is one of several indexes created by financial companies to classify world passports according to the access they provide to their citizens.

The Arton Capital Passport Index takes into account the passports of 193 member countries of the United Nations and six territories: Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Kosovo, the Palestinian Territory and the Vatican. Territories annexed to other countries are excluded.

Its 2020 index places the United Arab Emirates at the top with a "visa-free score" of 178, followed by Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and Spain with 171.

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