From 2024 to 2025, the United States dropped from seventh to 12th place in passport ranking, which puts the country behind 37 others, according to the Henley Passport Index.
In the HPI, passport power is calculated by adding up all the countries a passport holder can go to without a visa or another special permission.
It measures the ease of travel for the average person from one country to the rest of the world. Diplomatic or special passports are not considered in the ranking.
While U.S. citizens have visa-free access to many countries, the United States is losing passport power because it does not reciprocate visa-free travel agreements to countries that allow it for American travelers.
“While American passport holders can currently access 180 destinations visa-free, the US itself allows only 46 other nationalities to enter without a visa,” Henley & Partners noted in a press release. “This puts it way down in 77th place on the Henley Openness Index, which ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry to without a prior visa.”
With the Trump administration tightening immigration law and introducing new restrictions on the H-1B Visa, many are concerned that the lower ranking will not be considered an issue at all.
In contrast to the United States, China has climbed 30 places since 2015, going from 94th place to 64th.
According to the HPI, this is because China has granted more countries visa-free access starting from late 2023 through 2025. In response, some countries have signed reciprocal agreements with China.
Visa-free travel is a huge privilege beneficial to both the traveler and the country that permits it. Visas are expensive and take time to process, with some requiring an applicant to go through an interview process, making travel inconvenient for many.
The decline in power forced Americans to increasingly seek second citizenships during times of political and economic uncertainty.
“By the end of Q3, applications from US nationals were already 67% higher than the total for 2024, which itself recorded a 60% year-on-year increase. Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, Dominic Volek, says the firm now has more American clients than the next four nationalities — Turkish, Indian, Chinese, and British — combined,” according to the HPI.
Professor Peter Spiro of Temple University Law School in Philadelphia said, “In coming years, more Americans will be acquiring additional citizenships in whatever way they can. Multiple citizenship is being normalized in American society.”
Unless American visa policies shift towards openness, the view of a U.S. passport as a ticket to the world may be coming to an end.
