The Henley Passport Index has ranked Seychelles as 29th out of 199 countries for the first quarter of 2023 for the ability of the country’s passport holders to visit 153 countries visa free.
The latest figures show Seychelles was ahead of Mauritius, at the 34th place, where passport holders can visit 146 countries. South Africa came in Africa at 53rd place with its citizens able to visit only 106 visa free destinations and Kenya was ranked 73rd with the possibility to visit 73 countries.
The index is prepared by London-based Henley and Partners, a global citizenship and residence advisory firm.
The firm uses data gathered from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which manages inter-airline cooperation globally.
As IATA gathers the information in real-time, the index is also amended in the same manner as Henley and Partners also monitor any changes governments may impose on the passports and visa.
While two islands’ passports were still faring better than many of their other African counterparts, both Seychelles and Mauritius slipped down by one place from their rankings of 2022.
Some of the countries that people of Seychelles can visit visa-free, contrary to Mauritians, are Bangladesh, Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and Oman.
Historically, the Mauritian Passport was most powerful in 2014 – it was ranked 27th.
Here are the top rankings, with the number of visa-free countries each passport will get you into:
Japan, 193
Singapore, South Korea, 192
Germany, Spain, 190
Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, 189
Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, 188
France, Ireland, Portugal, UK, 187
Belgium, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA, 186
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The information and opinions expressed in our published works are those of authors/sources believed to be reliable. NewsMoris makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information expressed.