According to the Henley Passport Index, U.S. passport holders can currently travel to 180 countries and territories without obtaining a visa in advance, placing the United States in a tie for 10th place alongside Iceland.
Because several countries share the same ranking, the United States now trails 36 countries whose citizens enjoy greater visa-free travel access.
Singapore tops the latest ranking, with its citizens able to visit 192 destinations without a visa—12 more than U.S. passport holders.
In 2006, the United States shared the number one position with Finland and Denmark, with citizens of all three countries enjoying visa-free access to 130 destinations at the time.
The U.S. passport had already slipped to fourth place by 2016 and further declined to seventh place in 2021, before falling to its current ranking.
Singaporean citizens, whose passport is currently considered the world’s most powerful, can travel visa-free to 192 of the world’s 227 destinations.
The report says one factor contributing to the decline of the U.S. passport is the country’s relatively restrictive entry policy toward foreign nationals.
While Americans can travel visa-free to 180 destinations, the United States grants visa-free entry to citizens of only 46 countries, placing it 73rd on the Henley Openness Index, which measures how open countries are to international visitors.
The report notes that limited openness can have consequences for both travel and international relations. It also highlights that the United States remains one of the few countries with a highly ranked passport whose citizens still require a visa to travel to China.
Countries ranked ahead of the United States include Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Austria, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, and Poland.
Others ahead of the U.S. are the United Kingdom, Canada, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, and Lithuania.
