Armenia drops one notch in Henley Passport Index

YEREVAN, April 5. /ARKA/. Armenia has fallen to 79th place in the updated World Passport Index for the 2nd quarter of 2022, Henley & Partners said. In the previous index Armenia was 78th. Armenia's downgrade is due to changes in the ranking of other countries. Citizens of Armenia can still travel without a visa to 65 countries around the world.

Armenia's neighbor in the north-Georgia- has moved from 48th to 50th place due to changes in the positions of other countries. Holders of a Georgian passport can travel visa-free to 155 countries.

According to Henley Passport Index, six weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the impact on travel freedom and mobility has been more dramatic than even the most pessimistic commentators predicted at the war's outset.

The invasion has triggered the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, with more than 4 million Ukrainians having fled to neighboring countries.

The EU, US, Canada, and other Western countries have closed their airspaces to Russia, imposed stiff travel bans on individual Russian citizens, and in many cases have stopped processing visa applications altogether, effectively condemning the Russian passport to junk status throughout much of the developed world.

In stark contrast, the EU has approved an emergency plan allowing Ukrainians to live and work in any of its 27 member states for up to three years while other Western countries have adjusted their visa policies in favor of Ukrainian passport holders or waived visa requirements altogether.

According to the index, which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Ukraine currently has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 143, a record high for the country, which now ranks 34th on the index (having climbed 26 places since 2012), while Russia trails behind in 49th place, with a score of 117 — a gap that is likely to widen in the coming months.  

Elsewhere on the ranking, Japan and Singapore continue to share number one spot, with their passport holders able to access 192 destinations around the world visa-free, not taking temporary Covid restrictions into account. Germany and South Korea hold joint-2nd place, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190.