Pakistani citizens with an ordinary passport can have visa-free access to only 34 out of 227 destinations
KARACHI: The Pakistani passport remains the fourth worst around the world in the new year as well with no improvement seen in its position for at least the last five years, The News reported on Thursday.
The passport has been ranked the fourth worst, following its declining trend from July last year, as per data from UK-based citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley and Partners, which ranks 199 nations on its index.
The country’s passport ranks 101st (out of 104) on the Henley Passport Index with a score of 34, according to the firm’s Global Mobility Report 2024. This means that citizens with an ordinary Pakistani passport can have visa-free access to only 34 out of 227 destinations included in the index.
Around 199 identifications have been broke down for the positioning which depends on the quantity of nations and regions (objections) identification holders can access without an earlier visa. The file depends on information from the International Air Transport Affiliation (IATA).
This year, the top space for the world’s solid identification is involved by six nations — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Singapore, which have positioned first on the file with a score of 194. In 2023, the first and second spots were involved by Singapore and Japan separately. For France, Germany and Italy, the primary position converts into a huge two-spot hop; the three nations imparted the third spot to four different nations last year.
Three nations are connected the second spot to a score of 193 — Finland, South Korea and Sweden. The third spot is imparted by four nations to a score of 192: Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Afghanistan keeps on involving the space for the world’s most terrible identification with its residents getting a charge out of sans visa passage to just 28 objections. The second-and third-most awful nations are Syria and Iraq, giving admittance to 29 and 31 objections separately.
Despite the fact that other South Asian nations have performed better compared to Pakistan, their general positioning remaining parts low. Bangladesh positions 97, with sans visa admittance to 42 objections. Sri Lanka is just a single spot ahead — at 96 with a score of 45. Nepal comes at the 98th spot with a score of 40. Just India has performed better in the South Asian locale and partakes in the 80th spot with a score of 62.
The Pakistani identification gives sans visa access just to the accompanying objections: Barbados, Burundi, Cambodian, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Micronesia, Montserrat, Mozambique, Nepal, Niue, Palau Islands, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
In an explanation gave by the firm, Executive of Henley and Accomplices Dr Christian H Kaelin said that “albeit the general pattern over the historical backdrop of the 19-year-old positioning has been towards more prominent travel opportunity, the worldwide versatility hole between those at the top and lower part of the file is currently more extensive than at any other time.”
“The typical number of objections explorers can get to sans visa has almost multiplied from 58 out of 2006 to 111 of every 2024,” he adds. This really intends that “the highest level nations are presently ready to make a trip to a stunning 166 additional objections without visa than Afghanistan, which sits at the lower part of the positioning with admittance to only 28 nations without a visa.”
Specialists additionally highlight the developing utilization of innovation to perform travel-related undertakings. IATA Senior VP Business Items and Administrations Frederic Leger says that “with traveler traffic set to twofold by 2040, the improvement and upgrade of air terminal cycles should proceed. Checking and confirming travel reports should be computerized to a lot more significant level. Travelers have plainly conveyed that they will share their information ahead of movement to accomplish this objective.”
