Arton Capital the Global advisory for residence and citizenship solution has updated the Passport Index – the popular global ranking of the world’s passports.

The index is based on the number of country one national is allowed to enter or get visa on arrival “Visa Free Entry” with their own passport.

Out of all the countries which comes under this index Germany has taken the lead with a Visa free score of 157, that mean German passport holders can enter 157 countries, followed by Singapore (being the top of Asian country) with 156 countries. Within GCC countries UAE is the leader with a score of 122 countries, followed by Kuwait & Qatar with the score of 81 & 77 respectively. In MENA region Iraq & Syria are the lowest scoring countries as per Arton Capital.

Afghanistan retained the position of the world’s least desired passport with a score of 23. Other major players in ASIA like India got 46 (So, Indian Passport holders can travel up-to 46 countries where they do not need to obtain VISA before hand), Sri Lanka got a score of 35 followed by Pakistan with 26.

WOS (World Openness Score) who tracks the progression of freedom of mobility across the globe, the 2016 score was 17,925. Right at the beginning of 2017 the score moved to 17,948. This trend shows that countries are more open-minded when it comes to opening doors for other countries. But the question is will this stay as it’s now. With the recent backlash against globalization and ongoing immigration issues, the World Openness Score may be in danger of decline.

The tool also helps to understand how an individual can improve own Global Mobility Score (GMS) by adding one of more passports to an exiting travel document. For example, a Lebanese citizen has a GMS of 38. However, by adding a passport of Saint Lucia, their Global Mobility Score increases drastically to 123, which would represent the possibility of visa-free travel to over 61% of the countries they examine.

According to John Hanafin, CEO of Arton Capital, “The desire to improve opportunity and security transcends borders. As such, having a second citizenship has never been more relevant.”In recent years, citizenship by investment has become a 2 Billion US Dollars industry, with over 20,000 investors seeking a second residency or citizenship around the globe very year.

Here is the latest top 10 Power Passport Ranking:

• 157 – Germany
• 156 – Singapore, Sweden
• 155 – Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, UK, USA
• 154 – Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Japan
• 153 – Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand
• 152 – Greece, South Korea, Australia
• 151 – Czech Republic, Iceland
• 150 – Hungary
• 149 – Malta, Poland
• 148 – Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia

Additionally here is the list of top 10 individual Passport Power Ranking

• Germany
• Singapore
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Norway
• United Kingdom