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TRAVEL NEWS

How powerful is the German passport?

Got your hands on a German Reisepass? Consider yourself lucky - it's snagged one of the top spots in a ranking showing the power of passports.

Published: 12 October 2021 17:31 CEST
Updated: 13 October 2021 08:38 CEST
A holidaymaker with a German passport - one of the most powerful passports in the world.
A holidaymaker with a German passport - one of the most powerful passports in the world. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

Many of us foreigners in Germany can only dream of becoming German due to the current strict dual citizenship laws, although that could change in future under a new German government. 

For those who’ve already managed to get their hands on a German passport, either because they were born here or were naturalised, then congratulations – you have one of the most powerful passports in the world. 

With this exciting Reisepass, Germans can travel visa-free to 190 countries around the world. The purple-coloured passport is the second ‘most powerful in the world’, according to a index by the London law firm Henley & Partners.

READ ALSO:

Germany shares the second place ranking with South Korea. 

The most powerful passports in the world belong to citizens of Japan and Singapore, who can visit 192 countries worldwide without a visa, as the graph by Statista shows. 

Graph translated for The Local by Statista
Graph translated for The Local by Statista

There are big differences in the number of countries that can be visited visa-free or with a visa-on-arrival.

Citizens of Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain can visit 189 countries visa-free with their passports. 

Holders of a UK and US passport can head off to 185 countries without having to figure out visa paperwork. Australians can visit 184 countries visa-free. 

Austrian and Danish citizens are allowed to travel to 188 countries without an explicit entry permit, and the Swiss passport opens the doors easily to 186 countries worldwide.

Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have the weakest passports in terms of areas citizens can travel to without an entry permit – they have visa-free access to less than 30 countries worldwide.

The law firm Henley & Partners evaluates data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), among other factors, and provides travellers with information on which countries they can travel to with their passports and whether a visa is required.

Each passport is scored on the total number of destinations that the holder can access visa-free. For each travel destination, if no visa is required, then a score of 1 is given to that passport. This also applies if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) upon entry.

For countries that require a visa or where a passport holder has to apply for a government-approved electronic visa (e-Visa) before departure, a score of zero is given. The same applies if they need pre-departure approval for a visa on arrival.

The country ranking, however, does not take into account the current travel restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic of which there are many. 

For instance German passport holders – and other EU citizens – are not currently allowed to travel to the US unless they have an essential reason or they are also US citizens. 

However, US president Joe Biden announced recently that the US will let vaccinated Europeans enter the country from November.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Germany begins expanded border checks to limit migrant arrivals

Germany from Monday is expanding border controls to the frontiers with all nine of its neighbours to stop irregular migrants in a move that has sparked protests from other EU members.

Published: 16 September 2024 09:07 CEST
Germany begins expanded border checks to limit migrant arrivals

The government announced the sweeping measure following a string of deadly extremist attacks that have stoked public fears and boosted support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Sunday said that the step aimed to limit irregular migration and “put a stop to criminals and identify and stop Islamists at an early stage”.

The border controls will be in place for an initial six months and are expected to include temporary structures at land crossings and spot checks by federal police.

Poland and Austria have voiced concern and the European Commission has warned that members of the 27-nation bloc must only impose such steps in exceptional circumstances.

Germany lies at the heart of Europe and borders nine countries that are part of the visa-free Schengen zone, designed to allow the free movement of people and goods.

Border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland were already in place before the crackdown was announced.

These will now be expanded to Germany’s borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Faeser said the government hoped to minimise the impact on people living and working in border regions, promising “coordination with our neighbouring countries”. She also pointed out that there should be “targeted controls, not blanket controls”.

The interior ministry however noted that travellers should carry identification when crossing the border.

READ ALSO: How Germany’s increased border checks will affect travel from neighbouring countries

‘Islamist attacks’

In recent weeks, a string of extremist attacks have shocked Germany, fuelling rising public anger.

Last month, a man on a knife rampage killed three people and wounded eight more at a festival in the western city of Solingen.

The Syrian suspect, who has alleged links to the Islamic State group, had been intended for deportation but managed to evade authorities.

The enforcement failure set off a bitter debate which marked the run-up to two regional polls in the formerly communist east, where the anti-immigration AfD scored unprecedented results.

With national elections looming next year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has been under intense political pressure to toughen its stance on migrants and asylum seekers.

READ ALSO: Debt, migration and the far-right – the big challenges facing Germany this autumn 

Scholz was in Uzbekistan on Sunday to sign a migration deal for workers to come to Germany, while simplifying deportation procedures in the opposite direction so that “those that must go back do go back”, the chancellor said.

Closer to home, the German government has presented plans to speed up deportations to European partners.

Under EU rules, asylum requests are meant to be handled by the country of arrival. The system has placed a huge strain on countries on the European periphery, where leaders have demanded more burden-sharing.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Germany tightening its borders means that it would “essentially pass the buck to countries located on the outer borders of Europe”.

Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said his country “will not accept people who are rejected from Germany”, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned Germany’s move as “unacceptable”.

‘Welcome to the club’

Warsaw has also struggled with migration and accused Moscow of smuggling people from Africa and the Middle East into Europe by sending them through Belarus to the Polish border.

Berlin on Friday said that Tusk and Scholz had discussed the issue and agreed to strengthen EU external borders, “especially in view of the cynical instrumentalisation of migrants by Belarus”.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, meanwhile, mocked the German chancellor on social media site X, writing: “Bundeskanzler Scholz, welcome to the club! #StopMigration.”

Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-16, many of them Syrians, and has hosted over a million Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.

The extra burden on municipal authorities and integration services in Germany needed to be “taken into account” when talking about new border controls, Berlin’s interior ministry said.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Friday unveiled the country’s strictest migration policy yet, saying it will request an opt-out from EU common policy on asylum next week.

A four-party coalition dominated by far-right firebrand Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party wants to declare an “asylum crisis” to curb the influx of migrants through a tough set of rules including border controls.

By Raphaelle LOGEROT with Celine LE PRIOUX in Berlin

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