A free passport index that ranks 199 passports by travel, the right to live and work abroad, dual citizenship and tax, with weights you set.
5,0(1 rating)Rank 199 passports by what they let you do. Set what counts: travel without a visa, where you can live and work, dual citizenship and tax.
Loading 199 passports…
This free passport index ranks all 199 passports by what they let you do, not only where they let you visit.
You pick what counts: travel without a visa, the right to live and work in other countries, keeping a second citizenship, and living abroad without your home country taxing you. The ranking, the scores and the map change as you set the weights.
Here's how the index works, which passports lead on each setting, and why the answer depends on what you want from a passport.
TL;DRKey takeaways
What is a passport index?
A passport index is a ranking of the world's passports by how much they let their holders do.
Most rankings count one thing: the countries a passport enters without a visa. That count is a good start, and it's the "Travel only" setting here.
A passport does more than get you through a border, though. It decides where you're allowed to live and work, whether your country keeps taxing you after you move away, and whether you can hold a second citizenship. If you live between countries, those matter as much as the stamp.
The 4 factors
Every passport gets a score from 0 to 100, built from 4 factors:
- What it measures
- Countries it enters without a visa arranged first: visa-free, visa on arrival, or an online authorization like the US ESTA
- How it scores
- Its count, against the best passport's count
- What it measures
- Countries where it gives you the right to live and work, through agreements like EU free movement
- How it scores
- Its count, against the most any passport gets
- What it measures
- Whether its country stops taxing you once you live abroad
- How it scores
- Full marks if it stops, none if it doesn't
- What it measures
- Whether its country lets you keep another citizenship
- How it scores
- Full marks for yes, half for some cases, none for no
When the sources say nothing about a fact, it counts as half, so a gap in the data never sinks or lifts a passport.
3 settings, or your own
The weights are yours. Pick one of 3 settings:
- Travel
- 100%
- Live and work
- 0%
- No tax abroad
- 0%
- Dual citizenship
- 0%
- Travel
- 60%
- Live and work
- 20%
- No tax abroad
- 10%
- Dual citizenship
- 10%
- Travel
- 40%
- Live and work
- 30%
- No tax abroad
- 15%
- Dual citizenship
- 15%
Or pick "Your own" and give each factor 0 to 4 points. The line under the settings always shows the weights in use, so you can see why a passport ranks where it does.
The strongest passports for travel
On travel alone, here's the top of the index on September 26, 2026:
- Passport
United Arab Emirates- Countries without a visa in advance
- 167
- Passport
Singapore- Countries without a visa in advance
- 159
- Passport
Japan- Countries without a visa in advance
- 156
- Passport
Malaysia- Countries without a visa in advance
- 155
- Passport
Belgium- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Czechia- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Finland- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
France- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Germany- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Ireland- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Italy- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Malta- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
- Passport
Norway- Countries without a visa in advance
- 153
The "=" marks a tie: 9 passports share 5th place. The UK passport is 25th with 151 countries, Canada's 28th with 150 and the US passport 32nd with 148, each tied with others.
At the other end, the Afghan passport enters 21 countries without a visa in advance, the Syrian 24 and the Yemeni 27.
To see exactly where any of them goes, open it on the visa-free countries map.
What changes when you count where you can live
Switch to Balanced, and Ireland moves to 1st. Switch to Global citizen, and it stays there, with a score of 96.6.
Here's how 12 passports move between the 3 settings:
United Arab Emirates- Travel only
- 1
- Balanced
- 32
- Global citizen
- 37
Singapore- Travel only
- 2
- Balanced
- 44=
- Global citizen
- 72
Japan- Travel only
- 3
- Balanced
- 46=
- Global citizen
- 74
Ireland- Travel only
- 5=
- Balanced
- 1
- Global citizen
- 1
Germany- Travel only
- 5=
- Balanced
- 2=
- Global citizen
- 2=
United Kingdom- Travel only
- 25=
- Balanced
- 36
- Global citizen
- 38
Portugal- Travel only
- 28=
- Balanced
- 16=
- Global citizen
- 16=
Canada- Travel only
- 28=
- Balanced
- 37
- Global citizen
- 41
United States- Travel only
- 32=
- Balanced
- 58
- Global citizen
- 81
Brazil- Travel only
- 42=
- Balanced
- 33
- Global citizen
- 32
Mexico- Travel only
- 55
- Balanced
- 61=
- Global citizen
- 69
India- Travel only
- 148=
- Balanced
- 171
- Global citizen
- 178=
Here's what moves them:
- An Irish passport carries the right to live and work in 31 more countries: the rest of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK through the Common Travel Area
- A Brazilian passport gets residence on application in 8 other South American countries, through the Mercosur Residence Agreement
- A US, Canadian, Japanese or Singaporean passport gives no right to live and work in another country
- Japan, Singapore, India and China don't let you keep another citizenship
- The US taxes its citizens wherever they live
That's why the US falls from 32nd to 81st on the Global citizen setting. And it's why the UAE, first for travel, lands 37th: its passport gives the right to live and work in the 5 other Gulf states, and it allows dual citizenship only in some cases.
The US passport
The US passport is strong for travel: 148 countries without a visa in advance on September 26, 2026.
It scores lower once you plan to live abroad. The US taxes its citizens wherever they live, so moving abroad doesn't end your US tax return. Wikipedia's international taxation table marks 6 countries that tax citizens who live abroad: the US, Eritrea, Hungary (with exceptions), Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Tajikistan.
And with no free movement agreement, the passport gives no right to live and work anywhere else.
Where you pay tax depends on where you live, so count your days in each country with the 183-day rule calculator.
Wikipedia's table for US citizens also listed 6 countries that refused entry to US passport holders on September 26, 2026: Burkina Faso, Chad, Gabon, Mali, Niger and North Korea.
How to use the passport index
On your first visit, the index starts on the passport of the country you're in. Your settings stay in this browser.
Most people are tied to a location because of their job.
I designed my life so I can live where I want and work how I want.
A passport is one part of the plan
Where you hold citizenship, where you live, where you pay tax and where your company is registered can be 4 different countries. Your passport decides how easily you move between them.
My home base is Panama, where I'm a permanent resident, and I've lived in 19 countries. I wrote about what a global citizen is and the steps that got me there.
To see what a second citizenship would add to yours, use the second passport calculator. To put 2 or 3 passports side by side, compare passports.
Where the data comes from
The visa rules come from Wikipedia's "Visa requirements for … citizens" articles, one per passport, read every week. Dual citizenship and years to citizenship come from Wikipedia's naturalization table, and tax on citizens abroad from its international taxation table.
Where a passport lets you live and work comes from the agreements themselves: free movement in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, the Common Travel Area, the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Mercosur Residence Agreement, the treaty between India and Nepal, and the Compacts of Free Association with the US.
The dates under the tool show when each source was last read. Rules change, so check the country's official page before you act on anything here. It's information, not legal or tax advice.
Who is the passport index for?
It's for anyone who lives, works or plans across borders, and each of them has a next step:
- Visa-free countries map – digital nomads choosing a base, and how long each passport lets them stay
- Schengen calculator – anyone spending months in Europe on a 90-day limit
- 183-day rule calculator – founders deciding where to live and run a company from, counting their tax days
- Second passport calculator – families weighing a second citizenship for themselves or their children
- Compare passports – dual citizens choosing which passport to travel on
- What is a global citizen? – anyone building a life across borders, in my own words
Before any trip, check the country on the travel advisory map. More tools for the road are on the free travel tools page.
Passport Index FAQs
Questions about passport rankings? Here's what to know.
A passport index is a ranking of passports by how much they let their holders do.
Most count only visa-free travel, and this one also weighs where you can live and work, dual citizenship and tax on citizens abroad.
On travel alone, the most powerful passport on September 26, 2026 was the UAE's, which entered 167 countries without a visa arranged first.
Count where a passport lets you live and work too, and Ireland's comes first.
Each passport scores from 0 to 100 on 4 factors: travel, live and work, no tax abroad and dual citizenship.
You choose how much each factor counts, and the weights in use always show on the screen.
Ireland ranks first once you count where you can live and work.
An Irish passport gives the right to live and work in 31 more countries, the UK included.
Ireland also lets you keep another citizenship, and doesn't tax citizens who live abroad.
On September 26, 2026, the US passport ranked 32nd, tied, on travel alone, with 148 countries without a visa arranged first.
It ranks 81st on the Global citizen setting, because the US taxes its citizens wherever they live and its passport gives no right to live and work in another country.
The passport index counts every country a passport enters without arranging a visa first: visa-free, visa on arrival, or an online authorization like the US ESTA or the UK ETA.
eVisas and embassy visas don't count, because you apply for them before you travel.
The visa rules are read from Wikipedia's per-passport articles every week.
The dates under the tool show when the visa, citizenship and tax tables were last read.
The passport index is free, with no sign-up.
The passport index is for digital nomads, founders and families weighing a second passport or a move abroad.
I did. I'm Navid Moazzez, and the passport index is one of my free tools on navid.me.
Read about me, or see my creator profile.
For travel, you can also use the passport comparison, the second passport calculator, the visa-free countries map, the Schengen calculator, the 183-day rule calculator, the travel advisory map, the golden hour calculator, the time zone overlap calculator, the time zone converter and the countries visited map, all free on navid.me.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
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