Malta’s passport gets you to 169 countries hassle-free

The Maltese passport ranks 9 in the world for visa-free access, according to the global Henley Passport Index

11 January 2018, 7:00am
by Kurt Sansone

1 min read

A Maltese passport takes you far and wide but Germany holds the most powerful passport in the world

Possessing a Maltese passport opens up the doors to 169 countries without the need of a travel visa, according to an annual index compiled by Henley & Partners.

The global citizenship and planning firm’s rankings for 2018 put Malta in 9 place, one better than last year when it was joint 10 with Hungary.

The Henley Passport Index is based on IATA data and enhanced by extensive in-house research, the firm says on its website.

The index ranks 199 passports and takes into account 219 travel destinations.

A German passport is the most powerful in the world, giving visa-free access to 177 countries, followed by the Singaporean passport that gives access to 176 countries.

The worst off are passport holders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

Henley & Partners was given a concession to operate Malta's controversial citizenship-by-investment programme, popularly known as the cash-for-passport scheme. Fellow EU countries, Austria and Cyprus, which also have similar passport schemes, ranked fourth and 17 respectively in the 2018 index.

Kurt Sansone is Executive Editor of MaltaToday. He was formerly deputy editor of MaltaTod...