Europe’s Most Powerful Passport Might Surprise You, But Americans Could Be Eligible

According to a passport index for 2023, a European country ranks third most powerful in the world.

Advice website VisaGuide.World has created a list of the world’s strongest passports based on various factors including visa requirements and banned entry.

Japan and Singapore take the top spots, but third place is held by an EU country: Italy.

That makes the Italian passport the most powerful in Europe and one of the strongest around the globe.

For Americans, this could be good news. Many have Italian ancestors which means the possibility of eligibility for citizenship. Here’s why you might want to start tracing your roots.

The most powerful passports in the world

The VisaGuide.World passport index ranks countries in terms of the number of nations they can travel to visa-free and passport-free, requirements for government-approved visas or electronic visas and banned entry.

The site uses these factors to create a Designation Significance Score (DSS) to assign a value to each passport.

European countries, including Finland, Spain and Sweden, took eight out of the 10 top spots. The USA came in 40th.

Why is Italy’s passport so powerful?

Holding an Italian passport in 2023 means hassle-free travel to most countries worldwide, including some of the most popular tourist destinations. So how does Italy’s passport rank third in the world?

One major factor according to VisaGuide.World is the number of countries Italian citizens can travel to without needing a passport or visa.

Italian nationals can visit 45 countries using just an ID card. These include the Schengen area countries and EU member states, European microstates like Andorra and Monaco and other nations including Egypt, Georgia and Tunisia.

As for visas, only 28 countries worldwide require Italian citizens to apply for one. These include Japan, Cuba and Nigeria.

A few nations stipulate online travel authorization including Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Travel with a visa on arrival is possible in 35 countries worldwide for Italians.

Italian passport holders can travel visa-free to 100 destinations around the world, such as the UK, Indonesia and Hong Kong. They have no banned entry to any country.

US passport holders, on the other hand, cannot travel passport-free to any country and are barred from entering Cuba, North Korea and Syria.