The Italian passport is the best European passport to have in 2023 and the third best to have in the world, just after those of Singapore and Japan.
A newly launched passport index by VisaGuide.World, which is the first ever to rank world passports in a more comprehensive and accurate way than any other existing index, based on a carefully-built formula that takes more factors into consideration, has revealed that the Italian passport is, in fact, the most powerful, giving its holders the freedom of roaming the world with fewer hurdles than with any other.
Out of a possible score of 100, the Italian passport has scored 88.28 points in the VisaGuide passport index, just after Singapore and Japan, that have a score of 90.28 and 90.01, respectively.
According to the index, Italians need a traditional visa to travel to only 28 world countries, which is more or less the number of countries for which the majority of EU citizens need a visa to travel to. These 28 include countries like Yemen, Nigeria, North Korea, Cuba, Ghana, etc.
Aside from Japan, none of these 28 countries rank high in VisaGuide’s Passport Index Destination Significance Score (DSS) – a combination of many factors which gives each passport unique value.
While in this regard, the Italian passport may be equal to other EU passports, when it comes to traveling passport-free, Italy leaves behind the majority of them. As the index shows, Italians are permitted to travel with only a valid ID to 45 world countries – no visa and no passport needed.
Commenting on how the Italian passport managed to rank so high and become Europe’s most powerful, Besart Bajrami, the founder of VisaGuide.World says that there are several factors that have contributed in favor of Italy in the passport index while highlighting the importance of passport-free travel.
“Being able to travel visa-free and passport-free at the same time is a benefit that not many passports can grant to their citizens. Out of the total world passports, only Germany, Poland, and France grant their citizens passport-free travel to more countries than Italy,” Bajrami points out.
The index shows that Germans can travel passport-free to 51 world countries, Poles to 50, the French to 49, and Hungarians can travel without a passport to the same number of countries like Italy.
Aside from the 27 Schengen Area countries, the four non-Schengen EU Member States (Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania), the European microstates (Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City), Italians can also travel passport-free to Albania, Egypt, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, and Türkiye.
According to Bajrami, while three countries may be ranked higher regarding passport-free travel, Italy leaves them way behind in other terms.
“While Germans can travel passport-free to six more countries than Italians, the latter, on the other hand, can travel visa-free to six more countries than Germans,” he notes.
Further, he explains that while Finns can travel to 107 countries visa-free compared to Italians, which can do so to a hundred, Finnish nationals have passport-free access to only 37 countries, which are mainly EU and Schengen Area Member States, as well as European microstates.
The index shows that Italians need to apply for an online travel authorization to travel to 11 world countries, which are American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Guam, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, the United States Virgin Islands, and the United States.
At the same time, an e-visa is required for another eight, and a visa-on-arrival for 35 world countries.
The post How the Italian Passport Became Europe’s Most Powerful Leaving the Rest Behind appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
