A youth shows his UAE passport. File

Emad El Din Khalil, Staff Reporter

The Passport Index site created by Arton Capital revealed that the UAE passport still boosts its rank in the first place globally as the strongest passport, with a new point added thanks to the visa exemption.

The site added that the UAE passport enhanced its power to enter 159 countries without a prior visa, including 104 countries can be entered without a visa and 55 countries where visa obtained upon arrival or over the Internet.

According to the site, the Emirati passport widened the gap with the second rank passport, the New Zealand passport, to 8 points.

The South Korean passport comes in the third rank, with 150 points.

In fourth place, comes the Australian passport, which allows its holder to enter 150 countries, and in the fifth rank comes the passport of Germany, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.

The Emirates Digital Government indicated on its website, that despite the challenges of Corona pandemic, which restricted the travel movement universally, and resulted in a holistic decline to the power of passports globally, the UAE passport maintained its strength, where it was classified as the first globally.

The Digital Government pointed out that the classification depends on the number of travel destinations which a certain country citizens can head to without an entry visa, or without obtaining a visa upon arrival at the intended destination.