The US passport’s reduced power, now level with Malaysia at 12th, highlights a ‘major shift in global mobility,’ the index creator said.
The US has slipped from the world’s top 10 most powerful passports for the first time in two decades, underscoring a major decline in its global standing
According to the latest Henley Passport Index, a ranking that measures how many countries a traveler can visit without needing a visa, the US passport now ranks 12th globally, sharing the position with Malaysia.
Just last year, the US was in seventh place, before slipping to 10th in July of this year. Ten years ago, it was at the top of the list.
“The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade is more than just a reshuffle in rankings – it signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics,” Christian H Kaelin, chair of Henley & Partners and creator of the index, said in a press release. “Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind.”
Asian countries currently dominate the upper ranks. Singapore leads with visa-free access to 193 destinations, followed by South Korea with 190, and Japan with 189.
Henley & Partners, a London-based firm specializing in citizenship and residency consulting, has compiled these rankings for about 20 years using data from the International Air Transport Association.
The drop coincides with stricter US immigration and travel policies under the Trump administration, which initially targeted unauthorized migration but have since extended to wider crackdowns on tourism, foreign workers and international students.
Reciprocity plays a big role in a country’s rankings, Henley & Partners noted, pointing out that while US passport holders can currently access 180 destinations visa-free, the US itself allows only 46 other nationalities to enter its borders without a visa.
The dramatic fall in ranking is already fueling a desire for dual citizenship among Americans, the firm says, signaling that standalone US citizenship may not be the superpower status it once was.
“In coming years, more Americans will be acquiring additional citizenships in whatever way they can,” Peter J Spiro, professor of law at Temple University Law School, said in a statement. “Multiple citizenship is being normalized in American society.” While it may be a bit of an exaggeration, as one social media poster recently put it, “dual citizenship is the new American dream.”
