Barbados passport tops Caribbean passports in ease of visa-free travel

Alicia Nicholls

Barbados has the best passport among Caribbean countries. This is according to Henley & Partners’ recently published Visa Restrictions Index 2016 in which Barbados has topped Caribbean countries in the ease of which its citizens/passport holders can cross international borders.

Barbadian citizenship/passport ranked 26 out of the 199 nationalities (passports) evaluated with its passport holders enjoying visa-free access to 141 countries. Last year Barbados ranked 24 on the Index with visa-free access to 138 countries.

Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship planning and produces its Visa Restriction Index in cooperation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The index, which it has produced for the last ten years, ranks countries’ citizenship/passport according to the total number of other countries which they can access visa-free.

Besides Barbados, the other Caribbean countries whose citizenship/passports ranked in the top 50 are the Bahamas (27), Antigua & Barbuda (30), St. Kitts & Nevis (32), Trinidad & Tobago (34), St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines tied (37), Grenada (39) and Dominica (41). Some of these tied in ranking with other countries.

Some other Caribbean countries’ rankings are as follows: Belize (55), Guyana (57), Jamaica (61), Suriname (64), Cuba (78), the Dominican Republic (83). The lowest ranked among Caribbean passports was Haiti (89) with a score of 48 countries to which visa-free travel is granted to Haitian citizens/passport holders.

Internationally, Germany topped the index again this year with a score of 177 countries to which visa-free travel is granted to German citizens/passport holders, while the worst was Afghanistan which ranked 109 with its citizens enjoying visa-free travel to only 25 countries.

For further information and access to the full Index 2016, please visit Henley & Partners‘s website.

Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.