Visa restrictions index- global ranking of countries including Nepal
London: Nepalis can visit 37 nations worldwide availing a visa-on-arrival facility whereas 52 countries and territories provide visa-free or visa-on-arrival to holders of Indian passports.
The British enjoy the widest range of visa-free travel. Along with citizens of Finland and Sweden, holders of UK passports are able to visit 173 of the world’s nations without applying for a visa.
The annual 2013 Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index ranks countries according to the number of nations their citizens can access with just a passport.
Nine out of 10 of the top countries are EU members: Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands join the leading three, with only the United States representing the rest of the world. Citizens of all these countries can travel to more than 170 other nations visa-free.
The passport holders of Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestine, Eritrea, Nepal, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Lebanon can visit 28 to 38 countries on visa-on-arrival facility.
This global ranking is produced in collaboration with IATA. In compiling the index, the unique global ranking methodology by Henley & Partners is applied to data provided by IATA´s Timatic passport and visa information database.
This global ranking reflects the international freedom of travel for the passport holders of various nations, as well as the international relations and status of individual countries relative to others.
The top rank in 2013 is jointly held by Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom with a score of 173. The second rank is jointly held by Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and the USA scoring 172, an increase of two ranks for the US since the 2012 assessment. Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands hold a joint third rank (171).
Canada has risen again to fourth rank from a previously rank 6 in 2012 (170). Switzerland has gained two ranks, joining Austria and New Zealand on rank 5 (168). The last place in this year’s top ten is held by Liechtenstein (159), with the Republic of Korea (160), a country, which until 2011 featured much lower in the ranks, at rank 7.
Malta has gained two places moving up into 9th place with 163, while Hong Kong has gained five places, now in 14th place with a score of 152. St. Kitts and Nevis (131) has moved from 38th to 24th place in just five years, along with Antigua and Barbuda (130) which has gained six places since the 2012 ranking.
The United Arab Emirates have gained eight ranks (56th) along with India (74th). Venezuela and Zimbabwe, both of which had previously slipped several ranks have recovered and their scores are rising, now at 27th and 67th rank respectively.
Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq , Afghanistan,Eritrea and Nepal remain in the bottom seven places of the ranking, which means that citizens of these countries enjoy the least freedom of travel. – TBN
