Mazaj News (Web Desk) The Pakistani passport has seen an improvement in its ranking on the Henley Passport Index for 2026, moving up from 103 in 2025 to 98 this year, according to data released on Thursday.
The latest rankings place Pakistan’s passport at 98th, tied with Yemen. It now ranks above Iraq (99), Syria (100), and Afghanistan (101).
The report highlights that Pakistani passport holders can travel to 31 countries either visa-free or with visa-on-arrival (VOA) facilities. Leading the index, Singapore offers visa-free access to 192 countries, followed closely by Japan and South Korea with access to 188 nations. Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland share the third position, allowing entry to 186 countries without prior visas.
According to the Henley Index, Pakistani citizens can travel visa-free to countries including Barbados, Cook Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Micronesia, Montserrat, Rwanda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu.
Visa-on-arrival is available for destinations such as Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Nepal, Niue, Palau, Qatar, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.
Additionally, Pakistani travelers can obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for Kenya, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the development on X, calling it a “major achievement” and promising that the “momentum will continue.” Last October, Pakistan’s passport was ranked the fourth-worst for the fifth consecutive year, at 103.
Historically, Pakistan’s passport has been among the world’s weakest since at least 2021 on the Henley Index, which measures a country’s “visa-free score”—the number of destinations accessible without a prior visa or with visa-on-arrival. The travel document ranked 100th in 2024 and 2023, 109th in 2022—when it offered visa-free access to 32 countries—and 107th in 2021 with the same visa-free score.