The Australian passport is currently one of the strongest in the world, granting visa-free travel to 189 countries. Find out which nations you can go to and how the Australian passport stacks up.

The most recent rankings place the Australian passport among the top five most powerful. According to recent rankings, the Australian passport is one of the top five strongest in the world, and its validity has increased the number of places that its holders can visit without a visa.

Australia moved up from joint eighth place to joint fifth place with Portugal in the 2024 Henley Passport Index.

The strongest passport and how Australia stacks up

Australian and Portuguese passport holders are tied for fifth place, with 189 destinations accessible either without a visa or with one that they can obtain upon arrival through a visitor’s permit, electronic travel authority, or other means.

That does, however, mean that holders of Singapore’s most powerful passport have six fewer places to which they can travel visa-free.

With 195 destinations accessible without a prior visa authorization, Singaporeans have reclaimed the number one spot, which they shared with Japan until 2022.

Japan, which came in first in 2023, is now tied for second place with France, Germany, and Italy. These passports grant their holders visa-free travel to 192 locations. With visa-free travel to 191 nations, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden ranked third.

New Zealand, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, scored equal fourth since they could enter 190 destinations without a visa.

Which are the least strong passports?

With just 26 places eligible for visa-free travel, the Afghan passport came in at number 103, the lowest position on the list in the index’s 19-year history.

With a visa-free score of 28, Syria came in at number 102, while Iraq came in at number 101 with a score of 31.

Finally, Somalia, in 99th place, with visa-free access to 35 places, Nepal and Libya, in 98th place with a visa-free score of 39, and Yemen and Pakistan, both placed 100th with visa-free access to 33 destinations, completed the list of the five worst passports.

“The general trend over the past two decades has been towards greater travel freedom, with the global average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024,”

Which nations do Australians not need a visa to enter?

Australia’s nearest neighboring nations include Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, Samoa, and Fiji; these can all be visited without a prior visa authorization.

Australia’s citizens are permitted to visit the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom without a visa while in Europe.

The list encompasses nations in Africa, including South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, The Gambia, and Tunisia. Australians have access to travel to the Americas, which includes the United States, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. Australia, how ‘open’ is it?

Henley’s Openness Index looks at how ‘open’ a nation is in a different way. That is, the ratio of the number of countries to which they allow visa-free entry to their own citizens’ travel freedom.

Australia is one of the least open countries, coming in at number 83 out of 99. Only 34 nationalities have the ability to enter Australia without a previous visa authorization, although 183 destinations are visa-free for Australian citizens.

Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu are the top-ranked nations that are considered the most “open.”

These countries are open to citizens of 198 countries without the need for a visa.