Kenya's passport fell one place in the 2025 index to 68th place, offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 74 destinations around the world. According to the report, the top-ranked passports allow visa-free access to 195 destinations, while the bottom-ranked passports allow visa-free access to just 26 destinations, including France, Germany, and Italy. Several EU countries have dropped to third place, including Finland and South Korea, which have visa-free access to 192 destinations.
Elijah Ntongai, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, has over three years of expertise in finance, business and technology research and reporting, providing insight into trends in Kenya and the world.
Henley & Partners has released the Global Mobility Report 2025 with a first quarter update of the Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports based on visa-free access to 227 destinations.
Source:UGC
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According to the report, 227 travel destinations may require a visa, while around 111 destinations can be accessed without a visa.
The report further showed that the top-ranked passport has visa-free access to 195 destinations, while the bottom-ranked passport has visa-free access to 26 destinations.
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The 2025 Henley Passport Index ranks Singapore as the world's most powerful passport with visa-free access to 195 of the world's 227 destinations.
Kenya's passport ranking falls
The Kenyan passport fell one place to 68th in the 2025 Passport Index. The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 passports to 227 travel destinations.
If a visa is not required, or if a Visa on Arrival (VOA), Visitor Permit, or Electronic Travel Authorization Authority (ETA) is available, your passport will be assigned a score of 1 for that destination.
Conversely, if a visa or e-visa or VOA pre-departure approval is required, a score of 0 will be assigned and the total passport score will be equal to the number of destinations with a score of 1.
Countries accessible with Kenyan passport
Below is a list of 74 destinations that can be accessed with a Kenyan passport.
1antigua and barbuda26haiti51Philippines2bahamas27Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China)52Rwanda3barbados28Indonesia53Samoa4Benin29Iran54senegal5Bolivia30Jamaica55seychelles6botswana31Jordan56Sierra Leone7british virgin islands32Kiribati57Singapore8Burkina Faso33Laos58Somalia9Burundi34lesotho59South Africa10Cambodia35Macau (Special Administrative Region of China)60south sudan11cape verde islands36madagascar61sri lanka12cayman islands37Malawi62saint kitts and nevis13Comoros Islands38Malaysia63saint lucia14Congo (Democratic Representative)39maldives64Saint Vincent and the Grenadines15cook islands40mali65sudan16Cuba41mauritania66tanzania17Djibouti42mauritius67gambia18dominican43Micronesia68East Timor19eritrea44montserrat69trinidad and tobago20eSwatini45Mozambique70Tuvalutwenty oneethiopia46Namibia71ugandatwenty twofiji47nepal72vanuatutwenty threeghana48Nigeria73Zambiatwenty fourgrenada49Niue74Zimbabwetwenty fiveGuinea-Bissau50palau islands
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most powerful passport
Several EU member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, have dropped two places to join Finland and South Korea, each dropping one place in the past year to third place, and now each with a total of 19. enjoy visa-free access to destinations. .
Seven EU countries – Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – share fourth place with access to 191 destinations, while Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK are in fifth place with 190 visa-free destinations. It is ranked number one.
The rest of the index's top 10 are mainly European countries, with the exceptions of Australia (6th place) (189 cities), Canada (7th place) (188 cities), the United States (9th place) (186 cities), and Includes UAE. It is the only Arab country to break into the top tier.
Over the past decade, the UAE has been one of the index's biggest risers, gaining visa-free access to 72 destinations since 2015 and rising 32 places to 10th place with access to 185 destinations worldwide has been secured.
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Kenya flops in visa ranking
In other news, the 2024 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) ranks Africa's most accessible countries, citing restrictive visa policies in many countries, and challenges in Africa's regional integration. highlighted.
Despite being promoted as a visa-free destination, Kenya ranks among the bottom 10 countries in Africa for visa openness, with a score of 0.113.
Kenya's Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system, which replaces traditional visas, has been criticized for reducing openness by requiring many African travelers to pay a $30 (KSh 4,410) fee and pre-approval. .
Proofread by Otuko Jackson, multimedia journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke
Source: TUKO.co.ke
