Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Emad Eddin Khalil, Staff Reporter

The UAE passport ranked first globally after adding 3 new points on Tuesday, enabling its holder to enter 174 countries, according to the latest update of the "Passport Index" of Arton Capital, a global financial consultancy.

Of these, 119 countries can be entered without a prior visa and 55 countries whose visas can be obtained online or on arrival.

According to the "Passport Index", the passports of 11 countries compete for the second rank, namely are Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and South Korea, whose passports allow the entry to 170 countries, without a prior visa.

It is noteworthy that the UAE passport, until the beginning of 2020, and before the spread of the Corona pandemic, kept the first place in the world, in terms of power, according to the global ranking on the “Passport Index” website, since its rise to first place in early December 2018.

At that time, it enabled its holder to enter 178 countries, of them, 118 countries are without a prior visa, and 60 countries have an electronic visa, or upon arrival.