The Canadian passport is less valuable at helping the country's nationals from gaining visa-free access to countries around the world than are equivalent documents from 25 other countries.
This revelation comes from investment and migration consultancy Henley & Partners, which today released its 2024 passport ranking for visa-free access.
Nationals from six countries were deemed to have the most valuable travel documents, as they have the ability to travel to 194 countries without the hassle of filling out forms and paying for visas.
Those countries are:
- France;
- Germany;
- Italy;
- Japan;
- Singapore; and
- Spain.
The index ranks countries in groups, with the second-ranked group able to travel visa-free to 193 countries. Those countries are:
- Finland;
- South Korea; and
- Sweden.
Countries in the next group, able to travel visa-free to 192 countries include:
- Austria;
- Denmark;
- Ireland; and
- Netherlands.
Nationals of countries able to travel to 191 countries include:
- Belgium;
- Luxembourg;
- Norway;
- Portugal; and
- U.K.
Greece, Malta and Switzerland come next, as their nationals can travel visa-free to 190 countries.
The final group of nations that rank above Canada includes:
- Australia;
- Czechia;
- New Zealand; and
- Poland.
Canada is not alone in the seventh-ranked group, behind 25 countries. Other nations where citizens can travel to 188 countries visa-free include Hungary and the U.S.
Last year, Henley's counted 185 countries that Canadians could visit visa-free, which was below the count for 22 nations.
BIV asked Henley what has changed and it said Canadians newly gained visa-free access to six nations, while newly needing a passport to visit three.
Countries that in the last year have newly allowed Canadians to visit without a visa include Suriname, Myanmar, Turkey, Angola, Djbouti and Kenya, according to Henley.
Canadians have lost visa-free access to Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Egypt, the organization said.
On April 10, Canadians are set to again need visas to enter Brazil.
Visa-free access between Brazil and Canada has been a political football in recent years.
Canada in in 20017 initiated an electronic-visa program for so-called "low-risk" Brazilians, which remains in effect today.
In 2019, Brazil's then-president Jair Bolsonaro announced that Canadian citizens, along with Americans, would no longer be required to have a visa to visit his country. That call prompted Canadian tourism officials to urge the federal government to reciprocate and fully eliminate its visa requirements for all Brazilians.
Brazilians still need either the electronic visa, or other visa to enter Canada, however. The situation is the same in the U.S. and Australia, so citizens of those countries are also set to need visas starting April 10.
Back in 2019, Canadians could visit 184 countries, which was fewer than nationals of 17 other countries.
Arton Capital has a competing passport index, and it released its findings on Jan. 3. It ranks Canada in a group of countries behind 27 others, and it has what it calls a "mobility ranking" that is more wide-ranging than simply counting countries that are accessible visa-free.
