TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The latest passport index by British consulting firm Henley & Partners ranked Taiwan as having the 31st most powerful passport in the world in terms of the number of countries that provide its holders visa-free access.
The Henley Passport Index ranks countries based on the number of destinations their passport holders can access without a prior visa. The company says that it derives its data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which the firm claims "maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information."
In the firm's third-quarter listing for 2021, Taiwan tied with Mauritius and St. Lucia for 31st in the world, with access to 146 countries, a slight improvement from its position in 32nd place in the second quarter but still one spot below its 30th spot in the first quarter. Since the index began in 2006, Taiwan has been ranked as low as 69th, in 2010, and as high as 24th, in 2014.
In Asia, Taiwan ranks ninth behind Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Brunei, and Israel. Globally, Japan took the top spot for the fourth year in a row, with visa-exempt access to 193 countries, followed by Singapore in second and Germany and South Korea tied for third.
China, on the other hand, trailed far behind in 72nd place, one slot behind Bolivia, Saudia Arabia, and Thailand, which were tied for 71st. Only 78 countries offer Chinese passport holders visa-free access, a little more than half the number of countries that Taiwanese are visa-exempt from.
This report does not include entry bans imposed by countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the number of visa-free countries listed in the ranking may not match the current actual situation. For instance, although Japan's passports officially have visa-free access to 193 countries, due to travel restrictions, holders can currently travel to fewer than 80.
