The latest results and research from the Henley Passport Index show how proliferating barriers to entry over the past 18 months of the pandemic have resulted in the broadest global mobility gap in its 16-year history, with passport holders from top-ranking Japan and Singapore able to travel visa-free to 166 more destinations than Afghan nationals, who sit at the bottom of the index with access to just 26 countries without requiring a visa in advance.
Based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the index, which ranks all of the world's passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, shows that countries in the global north with high-ranking passports have enforced some of the most stringent inbound COVID-19-related travel restrictions. In contrast, many countries with lower-ranking passports in the worldwide south have relaxed their borders without seeing this openness reciprocated.
This has created an ever-widening gap in travel freedom even for fully vaccinated travellers from countries at the lower end of the passport power ranking who remain locked out of most of the world.
Unique research and expert analysis commissioned by leading international residence and citizenship by investment advisory firm Henley & Partners indicates that this gap is likely to increase as pandemic-related restrictions become entrenched and amplify the already significant global mobility divide between advanced and developing economies.
Japan, which shares the top spot on the index with Singapore due to its visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 192, currently bars almost all foreign nationals from entry. Germany, which sits alongside South Korea in joint-2nd place with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190, restricts presently nearly 100 countries from access.
At the lower end of the index, Egypt ranked 97th and has no travel restrictions. Yet, its citizens can access just 51 destinations around the world without acquiring a visa in advance. Similarly, Kenya, which ranks 77th, has no travel bans in place, yet its passport holders can access just 72 destinations visa-free.
COVID an Excuse for Curbing Visitors From the Global South?
Commenting in Henley & Partners' Global Mobility Report 2021 Q4, Prof. Mehari Taddele Maru from the United Nations University Institute says "the global north has been enforcing aggressive migration containment strategies for some time now through the rigid application of border controls, undermining the movement of persons in various ways. COVID-19-associated travel restrictions are new additions to the toolbox of migration containment instruments employed by the global north to curb mobility from the global south."
Recent adjustments to the COVID-ban policies of the UK and the US, which share 7th place on the index with a visa-free score of 185, have done little to alter what experts perceive to be growing inequalities regarding travel freedom access. Nor has their refusal to recognize vaccines administered across Africa, South America, and South Asia. Although the US has now opened its borders to all fully vaccinated travellers, the UK's recent revision of its 'red list' still excludes fully vaccinated travellers from Argentina, Brazil, India, and South Africa.
Commenting on these latest developments, Dr Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, insists that "if want to restart the global economy, developed nations must encourage inward migration flows, as opposed to persisting with their outmoded restrictions and exclusive approach to the rest of the world."
SOURCE PRNewswire
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Dubai Route Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Dubai Route Group.
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