Perdana! AS Out Of Top 10 List Of Most Influential Passports In The World

JAKARTA - The United States Passport for the first time is out of the list of the top 10 most influential passports in 2025, while the Asian country occupies the top three positions with the ASEAN country's top position occupied.

That's based on a list issued by the Henley Passport Index, one of several ratings measuring passport potential.

A passport is called influential when facilitating a person's journey by entering various destinations in the world without a visa.

Three Asian passports now occupy the top of the ranking board: Singapore, with visa-free access to 193 destinations worldwide; South Korea, with access to 190 destinations; and Japan, with 189 destinations, as reported by CNN, October 14.

Meanwhile, the United States dropped to 12th in the latest quarterly ranking, drawing with Malaysia.

Citizens of the two countries enjoy visa-free access to 180 of the 227 countries and territories tracked by the index, created by London-based global citizenship and residential advisory firm Henley & Partners, and using exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association.

And because Henley counts several countries with the same score as a place in their standings, there are actually 36 countries that outperform the US on the list.

In 2014, the US held the position No. 1, and in July this year it still lasted in the top 10. Then, what is behind this decline?

This is due to a series of access changes. In April, Brazil revoked visa-free access for citizens from the US, Canada and Australia due to a lack of reciprocity.

China has introduced a more friendly policy, offering visa exemptions for dozens of countries largely European-based, including Germany and France, but the US has not passed.

Papua New Guinea and Myanmar have also changed their entry policy, which pushed for another passport rating as well as further eroded the US rating. The final blow, according to the index's latest report, was the launch of Somalia's new eVisa system and Vietnam's exclusion of the US in its latest visa-free addition.

"The decline in US passport power over the past decade is more than just a reshuffle of the rankings", signaling a fundamental shift in global mobility and the dynamics of soft power, said Christian H. Kaelin, leader of Henley & Partners, in a statement.

"National countries that embrace openness and cooperation are progressing, while those who rely on past civiles are lagging behind," he said.

The British passport, which was at the top of the index in 2015, has also dropped to its lowest, down two places since July, from 6th to 8th.

On the other hand, China has experienced a sharp rating increase, up from its 94th rank in 2015 to 64th in 2025, gaining visa-free access to 37 other destinations within a decade.

The Henley Passport Index report shows China's latest measures - granting visa-free access to Russia, new agreements with Gulf countries, South America, and several European countries - as an example of Beijing's ongoing strategy to increase openness.

The UAE is also one of the biggest success stories in this index, having moved up 34 places in the last decade, from 42nd to 8th.

At the end of the opposite list, ranked 106th, Afghanistan remains stuck at the bottom, with visa-free access to only 24 destinations, reduced by two destinations compared to earlier this year. Syria is ranked 105th (with 26 destinations) and Iraq is ranked 104th (with 29 destinations).

Henley's list is one of several indexes created by financial companies to raise global passports based on the access they provide to their citizens.

The Arton Capital Passport Index considers passports from 193 United Nations member states and six regions, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestinian territory, and the Vatican. The areas annexed to other countries are not included.

This index is also updated in real-time throughout the year and the data is collected through close monitoring of the government's respective portals.

Arton Global Passport Power Rank 2025 puts the United Arab Emirates at the top, with a visa/visa-on-arrival free score of 179. The second position is occupied by Singapore and Spain, each with a score of 175.