The Swiss passport remains one of the world’s most powerful travel documents, ranking ninth globally in the latest Passport Reports index.
Swiss citizens can travel visa-free to 119 destinations. Another 54 allow entry with a visa on arrival or an electronic travel authorisation. Only 25 destinations require Swiss travellers to obtain a visa in advance.
Travel is virtually unrestricted across Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean. Swiss passport holders have access to 93% of destinations in Oceania and 72.2% in Africa.
Switzerland fares less well within Europe. It ranks 13th among 47 countries, behind several EU members, including Germany and Spain.
The United Arab Emirates tops the global ranking, followed by Singapore. Afghanistan is last: its citizens can travel visa-free to only three destinations.
The world’s strongest passports
According to Passport Reports, the top ten ranks are:
- United Arab Emirates
- Singapore
- Spain
- Malaysia
- Luxembourg
- Belgium and France
- Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden
- Greece
- Portugal and Switzerland
- Austria
Because of ties at sixth, seventh and ninth place, the top ten positions comprise 17 passports.
At the other end of the ranking, the five weakest passports are those of Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Yemen ranks 182nd, followed by Pakistan in 183rd, Iraq in 184th, Syria in 185th and Afghanistan in 186th place.
The ranking measures travel access only, and the headline number of destinations does not tell the whole story. A passport may lack visa-free access to countries its holder visits frequently, while offering easy entry to others that may never feature on their travel plans.
A comparison with the top-ranked UAE passport puts the gap in perspective.
Where the UAE passport has the edge
The UAE’s advantage becomes clearer when individual destinations are compared. Emirati citizens can visit 15 countries without obtaining a visa in advance where Swiss citizens still need one. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Mali, Nauru, Niger, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. In eight of these—Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Iran, Mali, Nauru, Pakistan and Sudan—the UAE passport provides visa-free entry; the others generally offer Emiratis a visa on arrival.
Where the Swiss passport has the edge
Switzerland has the advantage in six destinations. Swiss citizens can enter Belize, Lesotho, Nicaragua and Venezuela visa-free, whereas UAE citizens require a visa. Swiss travellers can also enter the United States with an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) and Australia under a simplified visitor arrangement, while Emirati citizens are listed as requiring a visa for both.
There are also countries where both passports avoid an advance visa but receive different treatment. The UAE, for example, has visa-free access to Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uganda, whereas Swiss citizens generally receive a visa on arrival or equivalent simplified entry. Conversely, Switzerland has visa-free access to Cape Verde, Jamaica, Laos, Rwanda, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vietnam, where Emirati travellers generally receive a visa on arrival.
The Swiss passport versus higher ranked european ones
Switzerland’s lower European ranking is largely a technical distinction rather than a big difference in travel freedom. Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Greece all have the same overall mobility score as Switzerland, with 173 destinations accessible without obtaining a conventional visa in advance. They also share the same 25 visa-required destinations. Switzerland ranks lower because fewer of its destinations are classified as completely visa-free and more as visa-on-arrival. The differences involve relatively few countries: for example, several higher-ranked European passports enjoy visa-free entry to the Marshall Islands, Palau and Samoa, while Swiss travellers receive a visa on arrival.
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