Islamabad: Pakistani passport continues to rank among the weakest in the world on the 2025 Henley Passport Index (HPI), which ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations they can access visa-free, and is based on exclusive Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Pakistan, the fifth most populated nation in the world, is ranked at the 103rd position on the index, with even Somalia, Nepal, Palestine, Libya and North Korea placed above the country. Only Iraq (104), Syria (105) and Afghanistan (106) have weaker passports than Pakistan.
Pakistani citizens, already struggling massively to travel abroad with extremely high visa rejection rates, have access to only 33 visa-free destinations.
Singapore leads the index as possessing the most-coveted passport in the world with Singaporeans having visa-free access to 195 out of 227 destinations worldwide.
The research showed that Pakistan (49.6 per cent) and Bangladesh (43.3 per cent) are also among the top 10 countries facing the highest Schengen visa rejection rates.
Over the past many years, severe restrictions and bans have been imposed by many countries on Pakistani passports and the country’s citizens, leading to rejections of visas for the country’s travellers.
Interestingly, the latest index was released at a time when Saudi Arabia announced that Pakistani citizens travelling to the kingdom must carry a polio vaccination certificate along with them.
Earlier, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had made it mandatory for visa applicants from Pakistan to submit a police character certificate.
Several Gulf countries have also imposed a visa ban on Pakistanis over their involvement in crime, fraud and begging.
Pakistan continues to maintain an unrelenting consistency in sending questionable travellers abroad – those who end up staying illegally in foreign countries by becoming asylum seekers, illegal drug traffickers, beggars and human traffickers.
In the past, over 4000 Pakistani beggars have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, especially from Mecca and Madina where they were caught begging during Umrah and Haj processions. Many Pakistanis have also been caught carrying illegal drugs and for their involvement in illegal activities.
Wednesday, as many as 51 deported Pakistanis landed in Karachi from seven countries, while 30 passengers were offloaded from international flights at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport Tuesday night due to issues with their travel documents and other irregularities, officials from the immigration department told Geo News.
“The persistent decline in Pakistan’s passport ranking underscores the need for reforms in governance, security, and diplomatic engagement to restore confidence in its travel credentials. Enhanced international collaboration and efforts to curb document misuse could help improve its global standing in the future,” reported ARY News Thursday.
IANS
