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French passport ranked among world’s ‘most powerful’

French passport holders can visit 189 other countries without a visa, making the little maroon booklet the joint third most powerful passport in the world, according to the latest rankings.

Published: 26 July 2023 14:11 CEST
French passport ranked among world's 'most powerful'
A French passport allows visa-free travel to 189 countries. (Photo by Eric PIERMONT / AFP)

The 2023 Henley Passport Index placed France alongside Austria, Finland, Luxembourg, South Korea, Sweden, and Japan – last year’s top-ranked passport – in joint third position its list of the world’s most powerful passports.

European neighbours Germany, Italy, and Spain were joint second on the 18th annual index – their passports allowing visa-free access to 190 other countries. 

A Singapore passport, meanwhile, is out on its own as the world’s most access-friendly, guaranteeing visa-free travel to 192 other countries, out of a total of 227.

Screengrab fromHenryglobal.com

A French passport not only allows visa-free travel to 189 countries, but also grants EU freedom of movement to its holders – meaning that you can live and work in any of the 27 EU member states without needing a residency permit or visa.

France allows dual nationality, meaning there is in most cases no need to give up your original passport, and is relatively generous in granting nationality to foreigners – you can qualify for French citizenship after five years of residence (or two years if you completed higher education in France) or after four years of marriage to a French person.

The fee for citizenship is a very reasonable €55 – although in practice most people spend at least a couple of hundred euro once you factor in getting certified translations of documents and taking a French exam.

On average, the application process takes between 18 months and two years.

READ ALSO The ultimate guide to getting French citizenship

Other rankings

Irish and UK passports, meanwhile, came in fourth on the list, alongside Denmark and Netherlands. A total 188 countries allow easy travel to holders of these nations’ passports.

New Zealand (187 nations) is fifth on the list, with Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland. One place lower, Australian passports (186 nations) allow visa-free access to the same number of countries as Hungary and Poland.

Canada – and Greece – have the next ‘most powerful’ passports, allowing access to 185 countries without the need for a visa; one place ahead of USA, which opens borders to 184 nations, the same as Lithuania.

As recently as 2014, UK and US passports allowed holders more visa-free travel to more countries than any other nations’ travel documents. Over that period, the US has added just 12 additional destinations to its non-visa travel list, compared to the 25 added by current top passport Singapore. A UK passport, meanwhile, jumped two places on the list compared to last year, to arrive at its highest ranking since 2017.

Furthermore, while a US passport allows holders to travel to 184 destinations without a visa, only 44 countries’ passports are allowed across its borders without a visa, putting the land of the free 78th on the Henley Openness Index of welcoming countries. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan make up the Top 5 countries with the biggest difference between the travel freedom they enjoy versus the visa-free access they provide to other nationalities.

Top 10 ‘most powerful’ passports:

1 (visa-free travel to 192 nations)

Singapore 

2= (190 nations)

Germany

Italy

Spain

3= (189 nations)

Austria 

Finland

France

Japan

Luxembourg

South Korea

Sweden

4= (188 nations)

Denmark 

Ireland

Netherlands

United Kingdom

5= (187 nations)

Belgium 

Czech Republic

Malta

New Zealand

Norway

Portugal

Switzerland

6= (186 nations)

Australia

Hungary

Poland

7= (185 nations)

Canada 

Greece

8= (184 nations)

Lithuania 

United States

9= (183 nations)

Latvia

Slovakia

Slovenia

10= (182 nations)

Estonia

Iceland

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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