NZ climbs passport rankings, vaccine requirements stifle travel mobility

Vaccine choice may affect international mobility as a hierarchy of jabs emerges by international recognition. Photo / Getty Images

Singapore has joined Japan as joint holders of the world's most powerful passports.

While access power is again improving for some passports the post-pandemic gap between the most and least valuable passports has grown to the widest on record.

Singapore's new travel agreement with Germany brought it to equal first with Japan, granting access to 192 countries, visa free. The German reisepass rose to joint second with South Korea with visa-free access to 190 countries.

New Zealand passport has quietly climbed to 6th place in the power rankings. This is up two places since the start of the pandemic, leapfrogging both the US and UK passports which grant 185 visa free travel destinations.

Based on data from the Internatinoal Air Transport Association IATA, the annual rankings compare passports by the number of visa-free travel arrangements with other countries.

18 months after the first Covid Travel restrictions travel inequality is at its widest point since records began.

Holders of Singaporean passports can visit 166 more countries than Afghan nationals.

Henley Passport Power Rankings have revealed that, while access to vaccines has improved the mobility of some nationalities, other passports have become less valuable regardless of the holder's vaccine status.

"Covid-19 is as much an economic crisis as it is a public health one, though in both regards it disproportionately negatively affects migration origin countries," says Erol Yayboke of the Global Mobility Report 2021.

"Pandemic-related barriers to movement that are likely to linger," says Yayboke, who sees the tightened travel restrictions being conflated with economic migration controls.

Vaccine passport power rankings

While proof of vaccination is becoming a travel necessity, the report says that a "hierarchy" of preferred vaccines and vaccine passports is emerging.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is currently recognised by 51 more countries than the Moderna vaccine.

"Your health or vaccination status — sometimes in combination with additional passports — may now be even more important for your global access rights than your primary passport is," says Kevin Bürchler of the SIP Medical Family Office in Switzerland.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is ranked first, accepted by 120 countries.

In second place is Pfizer–BioNTech with 98 countries, followed by the Russian Sputnik vaccine which is accepted in 71 countries.

In last place is the Moderna vaccine accepted in 69 countries.

With the new travel requirements and greater costs the slow return to international travel is extremely unequal, many travellers being priced out of certain destinations.

"The direction of travel has been towards greater freedoms, but ongoing requirements for expensive tests and quarantine ... and the absence of an approved international vaccination certification scheme, continue to rule out visits for many international travelers," said Dr. Hannah White of the Institute of Government.

Global Passport Rangings 2021 Q4

=1 Japan 192

=1 Singapore 192

=2 Germany 190
=2 South Korea 190

=3 Finland 189
=3 Italy 189
=3 Luxembourg 189
=3 Spain 189

=4 Austria 188
=4 Denmark 188

=5 France 187
=5 Ireland 187
=5 Netherlands 187
=5 Portugal 187
=5 Sweden 187

=6 New Zealand 186
=6 Belgium 186
=6 Switzerland 186

=7 Czech Republic 185
=7 Greece 185
=7 Malta 185
=7 Norway 185
=7 United Kingdom 185
=7 United States 185

=8 Australia 184
=8 Canada 184

9 Hungary 183

10 Lithuania 182
10 Poland 182
10 Slovakia 182