{"id":373259,"date":"2026-01-16T12:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373259\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:38:07","slug":"the-uk-has-climbed-the-global-passport-power-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373259\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK Has Climbed the Global Passport Power Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Henley Passport Index of 2026<\/a> has officially landed. Four times each year, consultancy firm Henley & Partners ranks the power of 199 of the world\u2019s passports based on\u00a0how many countries\u00a0each one allow its holder to\u00a0enter without a visa. And, for the first time in a long time, the UK passport has risen up the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was a period between 2010 and 2015 when the UK\u2019s passport was consistently one of the top three most powerful passports in the world, but that power has been diminishing over the past few years. Our passport\u00a0hit a record low back in October<\/a> when it was booted down to eighth place, but in the most recent edition, it\u2019s been promoted\u00a0to seventh place.<\/p>\n

Despite going up in the ranking, Brit passport holders actually have visa-free access to\u00a0fewer\u00a0countries than they did three months ago. In October, the passport enabled visa-free entry to 184 but now that number sits at 182. That means that its climb up the rankings is down to other nations\u2019 passports becoming less powerful. But don\u2019t get us wrong, visa-free access to more than 180 countries is still a big\u00a0privilege.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Misha Glenny, award-winning journalist and Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, explained: \u2018Passport power ultimately reflects political stability, diplomatic credibility, and the ability to shape international rules. As transatlantic relations strain and domestic politics grow more volatile, the erosion of mobility rights for countries like the US and UK is less a technical anomaly than a signal of deeper geopolitical recalibration.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Henley Passport Index top\u00a010 strongest passports in the world,\u00a0January\u00a02026
\n
\nSingapore
\nJapan, South Korea
\nLuxembourg, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden
\nAustria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway
\nHungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, UAE
\nCroatia, Czechia, Estonia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland
\nAustralia, Latvia, Liechtenstein,\u00a0United Kingdom
\nCanada, Iceland, Lithuania
\nMalaysia
\nUSA <\/p>\n

Read more about the the world\u2019s most powerful passports here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ICYMI:\u00a0The UK\u00a0has launched a new passport<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up to our\u00a0free Time Out UK newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first Henley Passport Index of 2026 has officially landed. Four times each year, consultancy firm Henley &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4821,59,57,58,50,4822,387,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-373259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-categories-travel","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-news-transport-travel","tag-travel","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}