A Global Ranking of Countries Based on the Travel Freedoms their Citizens Enjoy

In today’s globalized world, visa restrictions play an important role in controlling the movement of foreign nationals across borders. Almost all countries now require visas from certain non-nationals who wish to enter their territory. Visa requirements are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations.

MIC, the global firm specialized in international immigration and citizenship law, has been monitoring and analyzing the visa regulations of practically all countries and territories in the world for many years. Since 2006, the firm has published the MIC Visa Restrictions Index, a global ranking of countries based on the travel freedoms their citizens enjoy. This global ranking is produced in collaboration with IATA, i.e. the methodology developed by MIC for this global ranking of countries is applied to data provided by IATA´s visa information database.

MIC has now released the 2010 index, ranking countries according to the visa-free access to other countries their citizens enjoy as of August 2010. An index score of 161 means that a citizen of France, for example, may enter 161 countries and territories without a visa. The score then determines the rank within the index occupied by a particular country. This global ranking reflects the international travel freedom of the citizens of the various countries as well as the international relations and status of individual countries relative to others.

The top rank in 2010 is held by the United Kingdom with a score of 166, an increase of 6 since the 2009 assessment. The UK is followed by Denmark (164) in second place, Sweden (163) in third place and Finland/Luxembourg in joint fourth place with a score of 162. The United States (159) has slipped three places down to seventh position, but is ahead of Canada (157), which occupies the ninth slot, shared with Australia and New Zealand. Switzerland rounds off the top ten with a score of 156. Poland remains in 16th place (145), whereas things have improved for Hong Kong SAR passport holders, as Hong Kong has moved up three slots to 19th place with a score of 140. Another important move upwards was experienced by St. Kitts and Nevis, which climbed seven slots, and is now in 31st place with a score of 121, and notably Russia, which moved up to 49th place (previously 53rd). Venezuela slipped to 36th place (previously ranked 28th), Zimbabwe is down nine slots in 70th place, and China is also down nine slots compared to last year, but much further down the ranking in 88th place. Pakistan (90th), Iran (92nd) and Lebanon (94th) are found further down the scale. Unsurprisingly, the bottom four rankings are held by Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan, which means that their citizens have the least freedom to travel.

No.	Country	Rank	Total Score	No.	Country	Rank	Total Score
1	United Kingdom	1	166	98	Qatar	63	66
2	Denmark	2	164	99	Ecuador	64	65
3	Sweden	3	163	100	Kenya	64	65
4	Finland	4	162	101	Lesotho	64	65
5	Luxembourg	4	162	102	Malawi	64	65
6	France	5	161	103	Sierra Leone	64	65
7	Germany	5	161	104	Swaziland	65	64
8	Italy	5	161	105	Ukraine	65	64
9	Netherlands	5	161	106	United Arab Emirates	65	64
10	Belgium	6	160	107	Zambia	65	64
11	Japan	6	160	108	Marshall Islands	66	63
12	Spain	6	160	109	Suriname	66	63
13	Ireland	7	159	110	Bolivia	67	62
14	Norway	7	159	111	Ghana	67	62
15	U.S.A.	7	159	112	Tunisia	67	62
16	Austria	8	158	123	Oman	68	61
17	Portugal	8	158	114	Tanzania	68	61
18	Australia	9	157	115	Chinese Taipei	69	60
19	Canada	9	157	116	Micronesia (Federated States)	69	60
20	New Zealand	9	157	117	Thailand	69	60
21	Switzerland	10	156	118	Palau Islands	70	59
22	Singapore	11	155	119	Uganda	70	59
23	Greece	12	153	120	Zimbabwe	70	59
24	Iceland	13	151	121	Moldova	71	57
25	Korea	13	151	122	Saudi Arabia	71	57
26	Malaysia	13	151	123	Belarus	72	56
27	Liechtenstein	14	147	124	Georgia	72	56
28	Malta	15	146	125	Benin	73	54
29	Poland	16	145	126	Cape Verde Islands	73	54
30	Slovak Republic	17	144	127	Colombia	73	54
31	Slovenia	17	144	128	Kazakhstan	73	54
32	Cyprus	18	142	129	Philippines	73	54
33	Czech Republic	18	142	130	Bosnia Herzegovina	74	53
34	Hungary	18	142	131	Kyrgyzstan	74	53
35	Estonia	19	140	132	Guinea	75	52
36	Lithuania	19	140	133	Mali	75	52
37	Hong Kong SAR	19	140	134	Mauritania	75	52
38	Latvia	20	139	135	Armenia	76	51
39	Monaco	21	138	136	Azerbaijan	76	51
40	Romania	22	136	137	Burkina Faso	76	51
41	San Marino	23	135	138	Morocco	76	51
42	Brunei	24	134	139	Niger	76	51
43	Bulgaria	25	133	140	Nigeria	76	51
44	Israel	25	133	141	Senegal	76	51
45	Argentina	26	132	142	Togo	76	51
46	Andorra	27	131	143	Dominican Republic	77	50
47	Chile	27	131	144	India	77	50
48	Brazil	28	130	145	Tajikistan	77	50
49	Barbados	29	127	146	Albania	78	49
50	Bahamas	30	124	147	Cuba	78	49
51	St. Kitts and Nevis	31	121	148	Algeria	79	48
52	Mexico	32	120	149	Guinea-Bissau	79	48
53	Antigua and Barbuda	33	119	150	Uzbekistan	80	47
54	Uruguay	34	118	151	Central African Republic	81	46
55	Croatia	35	116	152	Indonesia	81	46
56	Venezuela	36	115	153	Liberia	82	45
57	Costa Rica	37	114	154	Mongolia	82	45
58	Seychelles	38	113	155	Mozambique	82	45
59	Paraguay	39	112	156	Bhutan	83	44
60	Vatican City	39	112	157	Madagascar	83	44
61	Mauritius	40	111	158	Sao Tome and Principe	83	44
62	Panama	41	106	159	Chad	84	43
63	El Salvador	42	105	160	Egypt	84	43
64	Guatemala	42	105	161	Sri Lanka	84	43
65	Honduras	42	105	162	Vietnam	84	43
66	Nicaragua	43	101	163	Bangladesh	85	42
67	Macao SAR China	44	99	164	Cameroon	85	42
68	Trinidad and Tobago	45	92	165	Congo Brazzaville	85	42
69	Macedonia (FYROM)	46	89	166	Gabon	85	42
70	St. Lucia	46	89	167	Haiti	85	42
71	Turkey	46	89	168	Laos	85	42
72	Serbia	47	88	169	Timor Leste	85	42
73	South Africa	47	88	170	Turkmenistan	86	41
74	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	47	88	171	Cambodia	87	39
75	Montenegro	48	86	172	Jordan	87	39
76	Grenada	49	83	173	Rwanda	87	39
77	Russian Federation	49	83	174	Syria	87	39
78	Belize	50	82	175	Nepal	88	38
79	Dominica	51	80	176	Yemen Republic	88	38
80	Solomon Islands	52	78	177	China (People`s Republic)	88	38
81	Samoa	53	77	178	Burundi	89	37
82	Tuvalu	54	75	179	Comoros Islands	89	37
83	Vanuatu	55	74	180	Equatorial Guinea	89	37
84	Jamaica	56	73	181	Kosovo	89	37
85	Kiribati	56	73	182	Korea (Dem. People`s Republic)	90	36
86	Maldives	56	73	183	Pakistan	90	36
87	Nauru	56	73	184	Congo Kinshasa	90	36
88	Fiji	57	72	185	Djibouti	91	35
89	Guyana	57	72	186	Angola	92	34
90	Tonga	57	72	187	Ethiopia	92	34
91	Kuwait	58	71	188	Myanmar	92	34
92	Peru	58	71	189	Iran	92	34
93	Papua New Guinea	59	70	190	Eritrea	93	33
94	Botswana	60	69	191	Lebanon	94	32
95	Gambia	61	68	192	Somalia	95	31
96	Bahrain	62	67	193	Sudan	96	30
97	Namibia	62	67	194	Iraq	97	27

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A Global Ranking of Countries Based on the Travel Freedoms their Citizens Enjoy