Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Morocco’s passport is ranked 58th on a new global ranking published by citizenship-planning firm Henley & Partners in its annual Henley Passport Index. Published on Friday, September 10, the Henley index shows that Moroccans continue to face heavy restrictions when it comes to international travel.
The “power” of a passport is defined by the number of countries that the passport-holder can travel to without facing restrictions or having to arrange visas ahead of departure. The inequality within the limitations on travel depending on the nation of birth continues to restrict vast parts of the world from accessing often more prosperous countries.
Read also: Turkey Announces New Requirements for Moroccan Travelers
The disparity in the power of passports is often invisible to those who hold strong passports. Most EU citizens for instance can travel to most of the world, often without a visa or with a simple visa-on-arrival process.
This disparity means that citizens of Spain and Germany, holders of this year’s number one-ranked passports, can travel freely to 106 countries, with an additional 36 countries requiring just the minor inconvenience of a visa-on-arrival, often at a small fee.
In contrast, countries at the bottom on the ranking, such as Afghans and Iraqis, can only travel to 4 countries unimpeded, with 27 options for visa-on-arrival. The remaining 167 countries require a lengthy and often impossible visa procedure before travel is allowed.
Morocco’s current ranking puts it on par with Gambia, Ghana, Rwanda and Tajikistan, with a variety of other African countries ranking above Morocco. Moroccan passport-holders can currently travel visa-free to 25 countries, with 33 countries allowing visa-on-arrival.
The top-5 of countries with the most powerful passports primarily include European countries, the US, New Zealand and Australia, as well as South Korea and Japan. The UAE currently has the most powerful passport in the Arab world (5th place worldwide), while South-Africa holds the most powerful passport on the African continent, ranking 41st on the world stage.
