Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman has been tied up with Saudi Arabia in the GCC rankings for the Henley Passport Index Q3, 2022 Global Ranking.
Oman and Saudi Arabia are ranked 68th with a visa-free score of 81, while UAE topped the list in the GCC with a ranking of 15 and a visa-free score of 176.
Qatar is ranked 55 with a visa-free score of 99, Kuwait (ranked 59 with a visa-free score of 96), and Bahrain (ranked 66 with a visa-free score of 86).
According to the latest results from the Henley Passport Index, based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Japan holds the number one spot on the index with a record-high visa-free or visa-on-arrival score of 193, while Singapore and South Korea come in joint-2nd place, with a score of 192.
EU member states dominate the remaining top 10 ten spots on the latest ranking, with Germany and Spain in joint-3rd place, with access to 190 destinations visa-free. Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg follow closely behind in joint-4th place with 189 destinations, and Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden share 5th place with their passport holders able to travel to 188 destinations worldwide without a visa.
Both the UK and the US have dropped down a rank, to 6th and 7th place, respectively, and Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the index, with its nationals only able to access 27 destinations worldwide visa-free. The global mobility gap between the world’s most and least powerful passports now sits at an unprecedented 166 destinations.
Throughout the turmoil of the past two years, one thing has remained constant: the growing strength of the UAE passport, which now sits at 15th place on the ranking, with a visa-free or visa-on-arrival score of 176.
Over the past decade, the country has made unparalleled gains as the biggest climber on the index — in 2012, it sat at 64th place on the rankings, with a score of just 106.
