The 9 Countries With the Most Improved Passport Access

Passport power used to move at a glacial pace, shifting by a place or two every few years as governments slowly negotiated visa waivers. That has changed. Over the past two years, a handful of countries have rewritten their standing on the global mobility charts through aggressive diplomacy, regional trade blocs, and unilateral visa-free offers designed to boost tourism and trade. Some of these gains come from wealthy nations doubling down on soft power, while others come from countries that were long stuck near the bottom finally cashing in on political goodwill.

Below are nine countries whose passports have genuinely climbed in 2025 and 2026, based on the Henley Passport Index, the Arton Capital Passport Index, and independent reporting from outlets tracking these changes as they happen. Each entry reflects a real, documented shift rather than a one-off news blip.

1. United Arab Emirates

No passport tells a more dramatic mobility story than the UAE's. Two decades ago it barely registered on the global rankings, yet it has since become the sharpest riser in the history of the Henley Index. The UAE stands out as the strongest performer on the Henley Passport Index over the past 20 years, adding 149 visa-free destinations since 2006 and climbing 57 places to 5th on the rankings. Some editions of the index put the gain even higher, with visual data showing the country adding as many as 153 destinations over that stretch.

What makes the UAE's rise notable is that it has not slowed down. The UAE now offers visa-free access to 188 destinations, reflecting an expanding network of diplomatic agreements, stronger international partnerships, and sustained economic growth. Its climb has been described by analysts as one of the cleanest examples of policy directly reshaping a passport's value, rather than economic indicators doing the heavy lifting.

2. Kosovo

Kosovo's story is less about adding new visa waivers and more about finally being allowed to use mobility it had effectively earned years earlier. Kosovo has made significant gains in recent years, rising 35 places in the rankings since 2016, even though its passport holders still rank well below the global average with access to a modest number of destinations. The turning point was largely political rather than technical.

Analysts covering the shift describe it plainly. Kosovo was a country excluded from European mobility for reasons that were always more political than technical, and its eighteen-point gain over five years is not a statistical artefact but the belated collection of a dividend the country had already earned. In other words, the underlying case for Kosovar mobility existed long before the paperwork caught up, and the mobility was always latent, what changed was the political permission to access it.

3. India

India's climb has been steady rather than explosive, but it is real and well documented across multiple 2026 index updates. India has risen to 80th place in the Henley Passport Index 2026, tied with Algeria, granting passport holders access to 55 destinations. That represents a meaningful jump in a short window. The jump from 85th last year reflects gradual progress in diplomatic outreach and growing international travel access.

The improvement has been credited to sustained engagement rather than any single dramatic deal. Its surge reflects sustained diplomatic engagement and visa liberalisation, surpassing countries including New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Canada, Iceland, and the US in year-on-year momentum, even though India's absolute rank remains far below those nations. Separate tracking through mid-2026 placed India around the mid-70s with 56 visa-free destinations, reinforcing that the trend has held rather than reversed.

4. Oman

Oman has quietly turned in one of the more consistent improvement streaks in the Gulf region. Oman's passport improved its rankings in the latest Henley Passport Index for May 2026 to 55, compared to the ranking of 57 issued in January that year, with Omani citizens able to travel visa-free or with a visa on arrival to 84 destinations. That follows an even earlier climb, when Oman jumped four places to 56th in the Henley Passport Index in the first half of 2025, based on new access to destinations including China and Russia.

Two bilateral deals explain much of the momentum. China exempted nationals from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain from needing entry visas, expanding visa-free coverage to all Gulf Cooperation Council states following a similar move with the UAE and Qatar back in 2018. On top of that, Oman and Russia signed a mutual visa exemption agreement for short-term visits, which took effect on July 18, 2025. Together those two agreements alone added dozens of millions of potential destinations worth of new access for Omani travelers in barely a year.

5. Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's passport gains are tied unmistakably to its broader Vision 2030 economic push, and analysts tracking the Global Passport Index have flagged it as one of the cleanest cases of coordinated national reform showing up in mobility data. Saudi Arabia's rise is described as the cleanest Vision 2030 signal in the dataset, with strong gains in gross national income, investment climate, and gender index, while mobility plays only a secondary role.

Part of that mobility bump came from the same China visa waiver that boosted Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain simultaneously. Citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council member states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, can now enjoy visa-free travel to China, an agreement that also applies to South American countries like Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Regional reporting also placed Saudi Arabia's passport access at around 87 to 88 visa-free destinations through 2026, a clear step up from where it stood just a few years earlier.

6. Bahrain

Bahrain's improvement is a slightly different flavor than its Gulf neighbors, driven more by broad economic and social indicators than by a single headline visa deal, though mobility played a role too. Bahrain registered the largest gross national income per capita gain of any 2026 riser alongside material gains in investment and gender indicators, though its mobility component barely moved on its own. That nuance matters, since it shows the country's rise reflects broader institutional progress rather than a single diplomatic win.

Even so, Bahrain benefited from the same regional wave of Chinese visa exemptions that lifted Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kuwait. Being grouped into that Gulf-wide agreement gave Bahraini travelers an easier route into one of the world's largest economies without the usual paperwork, adding a genuine, if modest, mobility dividend on top of its stronger economic story.

7. Hong Kong

Hong Kong's climb has been sharper than most people realize, and it stands out because the gains were broad rather than tied to one bilateral deal. Hong Kong climbed twelve ranks to 31st, with mobility leading the increase while gender, investment, and freedom indicators all reinforced the improvement. A twelve-place jump in a single cycle is unusually large for a passport that was already sitting comfortably in the upper half of the rankings.

What makes Hong Kong's case interesting is that it did not need a single transformative deal to move up. Instead, a combination of steady bilateral visa waiver renewals and improving underlying indicators pushed it past dozens of competitors at once, a reminder that passport rankings can shift meaningfully even without a dramatic headline agreement behind them.

8. Philippines

The Philippines has posted one of the more eye-catching numeric jumps of the past year, even if its overall rank remains modest by global standards. Filipinos' global mobility has made huge improvements with visa-free access rising from 64 to around 78 destinations, based on the latest dashboard tracking. That is a jump of roughly 14 destinations in a relatively short window, a pace few countries match.

The breakdown shows the gain is not just theoretical. Philippine passport holders now enjoy visa-free access to 36 countries and territories, with additional options for visas on arrival or eTA in about 40 to 42 more destinations, totaling around 78 accessible without a prior visa. Manila's foreign ministry has continued pushing for further reciprocal deals, including exploratory talks around eventual Schengen access, which would represent an even bigger leap if it materializes.

9. Pakistan

Pakistan's passport remains one of the weakest in the world, but its recent trajectory is genuinely upward rather than flat, which is notable given how little movement the country has seen historically. Pakistani citizens are enjoying growing travel freedom as the Henley Passport Index for February 2026 ranks their passport 97th, up from 98th in January and 103rd the previous year. A six-place climb in about a year is significant for a passport sitting near the bottom of the global table.

The gains have come in small but steady increments rather than one big breakthrough. Pakistani passport holders can now visit 32 countries visa-free, with visa-on-arrival, or via eTA, up from 31 in January, following the reinstatement of The Gambia, reflecting ongoing diplomatic efforts and international agreements. It is a slow climb by any measure, but for a passport that had been sliding for years, even this modest reversal is meaningful.

What's Driving These Gains

A common thread runs through most of these stories: bilateral and regional deals move the needle far faster than broad economic development alone. The Gulf states' shared visa exemption with China is a clear example, lifting Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain simultaneously through a single coordinated agreement rather than years of individual negotiation. Kosovo's case shows the opposite pattern, where the underlying qualification for mobility existed long before political recognition finally caught up.

Meanwhile, the widening gap at the top and bottom of the global rankings makes these individual success stories stand out even more. The gap between the world's strongest and weakest passports has widened to 168 destinations, with Singapore at the top and Afghanistan at the bottom of the 2026 index. Against that backdrop of a hardening divide, any country managing to climb several places in a single year, whether through new bilateral deals, regional blocs, or sustained diplomatic outreach, is doing something genuinely difficult.