S'pore passport still most powerful in the world, US passport strength drops to 12th place, a historic low

Singapore has defended its top spot as the most powerful passport in the world for the second year in a row, while the U.S. passport's strength has dropped to a historic low, falling to 12th place.

According to Henley & Partners on Oct. 14, the Henley Passport Index ranked the U.S. passport as not among the world's top 10 most powerful passports.

The index was created 20 years ago.

Top spot gone

The U.S. passport was once unrivalled at first place in 2014, Henley & Partners said.

However, it has now lost its ranking to the Singapore passport.

According to the index, the Singapore passport has reclaimed its top spot for the second year in a row since 2024.

In 2025, the Singapore passport scored 91.27 out of 100 on another index, the VisaGuide passport index 2025.

Singapore has access to 193 destinations visa-free out of 227 destinations worldwide.

This puts Singapore among the top three countries in Asia, including South Korea and Japan, to have access to the most number of destinations visa-free.

South Korea ranks second with access to 190 destinations without a visa.

Japan comes in third with visa-free access to 189 destinations.

Reasons for drop

The U.S. passport has visa-free access to only 180 destinations.

This places the U.S. passport on par with the Malaysia passport.

According to the press release, the drop was driven by a series of access changes.

This includes the loss of visa-free access to Brazil in April 2025 due to a lack of reciprocity.

China, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam also left the U.S. out of their visa-free lists.

The UK's passport strength has also dropped to its lowest position at eighth place.

Low visa reciprocity

The U.S. only allows 46 other nationalities to enter without a visa.

This places it at 77th on the Henley Openness Index.

It ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry to without a prior visa.

U.S. president Donald Trump suspended visa issuance to travellers from 12 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to the press release.

Trump imposed heavy restrictions on an additional seven.

He also threatened bans on up to 36 more, the majority of them in Africa.

China's climb

Meanwhile, China has climbed from 94th place in 2015 to 64th place in 2025.

Its visa-free access score has increased by 37 destinations.

China has also gone up on the Henley Openness Index to 65th place, granting visa-free access to 76 nations, 30 more than the U.S.

Demand for second citizenships

According to the press release, Henley & Partners' data showed that Americans have become by far the largest group of applicants for investment migration programmes in 2025.

By the end of the third quarter of 2025, applications from U.S. nationals were already 67 per cent higher than the total for 2024, which itself recorded a 60 per cent year-on-year increase.

Top photos via Canva