Pakistan

Pakistani passport second worst for international travel

Afghanistan ranks as the worst passport for international travel

News Desk February 27, 2016

PHOTO: FILE

Pakistani passport has been ranked as the second worst in the world for international travel.

Henley & Partners, a company that assists wealthy clients with residence and citizenship planning and the company behind the Visa Restrictions Index, has ranked countries according to the number of other countries their citizens can travel to without having to obtain a visa.

Pakistan ranks 103 of a total 104 countries and only ranks better than Afghanistan. Thus meaning that citizens of Pakistan and Afghanistan face the most amount of visa restrictions while travelling across the globe.

Germany ranked number one on the index with 177 points, while Pakistan scored 29 points. Sweden secured the second spot (176 points), followed by France, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom ranking third on the index. Meanwhile, Pakistan's neighbour, India ranked 85 on the list, with a score of 52.

Pakistani passport third worst for international travel

"Henley & Partners analyses global visa regulations to present an index ranking each country and territory in the world by the number of countries that their citizens can travel to visa-free."

According to reports, the index is produced in cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information, and is published annually.

In January last year, Henley & Partners, ranked countries according to the number of other countries their citizens can travel without having to obtain a visa.

Britain rejecting Pakistani visa applicants in droves

Pakistan shared the spot with Somalia, with citizens of both countries enjoying visa-free access to only 32 destinations around the world. Only citizens of Iraq (31) and Afghanistan (28) are worse off.

“Visa requirements are … an expression of the relationships between individual nations,” the company’s websites notes, and, “generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations”.

COMMENTS (30)

Kazuko Lally | 8 years ago | Reply Excellent blog post . I loved the insight - Does someone know where my company could possibly find a blank PK Visa Application Form example to complete ?

Quizzard | 8 years ago | Reply Wow, the idiocy of people. This is a survey of how many countries you can ENTER without a visa. That is all it shows. It has nothing to do with your personal behaviour, as some state, it has nothing to do with trade, except as that defines who is most likely to provide visa free access. It is not some attempt by this company to malign Pakistan. It looks at the ability of people from one country to enter another. That can be partly related to the stringency by which a country vets it sown citizens and protects the honesty of the passport itself, it can involve international relations, etc etc. It really means nothing, it says nothing about anyone's ability to enter a country, only whether that entry requires a visa. Tourist visas are often available simply by applying, sometimes they are even autmatic once one enters or before one enters. It's just not a big deal.

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syed Sharfuddin | 8 years ago | Reply I disagree. Who are Henley and Partners and who do they serve. Rich and Famous. Agree that tourists are nit visiting Pakistan because of negative travel advisories but gi to any five star hotel and shopping arcade in any country in the world and you will find green passport holders both local residents and tourists. And mind you many foreign embassies in Islamabad make so much money charging visa processing fees from Pakistanis they don't need funds from their countries to send them funds for meeting admin expenses. You just need to ask how many non Pakistanis fraudulently acquired Pakistan passport in the last few years. This is one measure of the popularity of the green book which is the proud possession of every Pakistani.

N-Deal | 8 years ago | Reply @brar: As a student who wants to go for his higher education in a country like USA or Germany, I don't give a damn about our nuclear weapons. Perhaps I can use a nuclear missile to fly to my foreign university some day.

Korn | 8 years ago | Reply Too many Indians working at foreign embassies/consulates & blocking Pakistani visa.

Pakistani-Khi | 8 years ago | Reply Why publishing only negativity related to Pakistan? We ought to hear some positive news as well. Did anyone know Islamabad is the world second best capital ? but our media is not bothered publish it in the news!!! I hope my comments to appear.

M.Imtiaz Ahmadani | 8 years ago | Reply don't blame the passport please of any country.It depends on the travellers behaviour and attitude during visaa process or on the international airport around the world according to my personal experience accross the Europe and Gulf states..

SaneVoice | 8 years ago | Reply @Haji Atiya: Please keep your groundless info to your self. Pakistan earns high remittances from the Middle East, which means Pakistani's are broadly accepted there. Same goes for Asia, Africa and South America---Pakistanis have no image issues over there. It's only the US and Europe, who have issues with not just Pakistan but Muslims in general. Period

Bewildered | 8 years ago | Reply "Pakistan ranks 103 of a total 104 countries and only ranks better than Afghanistan." Thank God! They included Afghanistan in the "Survey" as well, otherwise..........it might have looked like Pakistan was the target. Had they cut short the survey to just 85, then it would have been India in the headline instead of Pakistan.

mansoor | 8 years ago | Reply Nukes, Islamic fundamentalism and no concept of "Law abiding " are the reasons doors are shut on us.

Farook janjua | 8 years ago | Reply Passport is national document to travel out of ones own country. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Pakistan passport or any other passport. The problem lies with so called Those Pakistanies who plunder the wealth of our country and deposit that wealth in the banks of Europe and America. Now the point is that those very people who conduct these surveys are well aware of those plunderers who travel holding Pakistani passports and since they are custodian of this ill gotten wealth of our country, they do not blame the plunderers but rank the passport to malign the nation.

Mir Ali | 8 years ago | Reply This is nonsense. I have travelled many times to Europe and couple of times to Africa using Pakistani passport. There are many other passports which are far worse and cannot get schengen or. US visa like Iraq, Syria , Afghanistan and few countries of Africa.

dk | 8 years ago | Reply @Punjabi: So you want to say that world should give you visa free travel option on the basis of nukes and missiles you are possesing. If this is the reason then dude you are living in stone age.

dk | 8 years ago | Reply This is the reason world is ignoring the only islamic country with nukes. The article is regarding the ranking of countries with visa free travel but here some people are talking about nukes and their arsenal. These guys are going out of context and this is the sign of stupidity. This is the reason why the arab world is not giving visa free travel option to the only islamic country with nukes.

Punjabi | 8 years ago | Reply Doesn't world knows that pakistan is a asian nuclear superpower, with a babur and shaheen into it's arsenal.

A | 8 years ago | Reply At least we got Nukes - why need to travel.

naeemhussain | 8 years ago | Reply If today America will need Pakistan help like many times in the past Pakistan passport will be the beast in the world.

Sammy | 8 years ago | Reply @Tariq Qureshi: Sure. Let terrorists visit each another

Haji Atiya | 8 years ago | Reply @SaneVoice: No, you can include all the Middle East countries and SE and NE Asian countries. Enough already ?

brar | 8 years ago | Reply Conspiracy against Pakistan every one want to belittle the only Islamic Nuclear state.

Sridhar | 8 years ago | Reply India's ranking will improve as the economy improves. Right now, India places many restrictions on trade. The more you trade with other nations, more they are likely to give you a "visa free" entry.

wb | 8 years ago | Reply Punish Hafiz Saeed and arrest Masood Azhar and see things will change quickly.

harkol | 8 years ago | Reply @NY: True, Sad that India is at 85. But, look at brighter side : China 87. Srilanka & Bangladesh 95. Nepal 98, Bhutan 86. So, Indian passport is acceptable more than any of it's immediate neighbors. I certainly think India can do better than Indonesia, Philippines etc. and be near Thailand in a decade.

SaneVoice | 8 years ago | Reply And as usual by the world it's meant that it's the 'US and it's minion European states'.

PakPower | 8 years ago | Reply Yes. Unfortunate circumstances but us Pakistanis don't get bogged down by such negative news. We are a resilient nation.

Jag Nathan | 8 years ago | Reply With a little attempt, Pakistan could beat Afghanistan. At least on this Paksitan has beaten India. Congratulations.

NY | 8 years ago | Reply @ sharath chandra: Even India is not far behind mate. Being at 85 out of 104 does not look very promising. Does it?

Tariq Qureshi | 8 years ago | Reply Atleast we should get visa free access to our brotherly Islamic countries if we have so good relations as we read in Pakistan Studies books.

sharath chandra | 8 years ago | Reply Congrats / you shall be the first with some more effort.

Haji Atiya | 8 years ago | Reply Don't know why things have to be put so negatively: "...second worst for international travel", instead: "second best for being the pariah of the international community..."

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