During our world tour we have travelled through 28 different countries on 5 continents. Together with our other holiday trips and city trips, we have already 78 countries. One of the questions that always preoccupyesus us in our holiday planning is:
– what are the requirements for entry as a German citizen?
– is the normal passport sufficient?
– or do you need a special visa in advance and if so, how much does it cost?
We have often wondered about the sometimes really high visa costs that some countries, such as Tanzania (50 USD), charge for entry. One wonders, of course,: do we, as Germans, only have to pay so much when entering other countries? In keeping with this, there is now a very recent study of the website Passport Index. And behold – when it comes to travelling to foreign countries, the German passport is the second best passportyou can have in the whole world.
The German Passport
Depending on nationality, the freedom to travel to other countries is more or less restricted. German citizens can currently travel to 171 countries without the need for a visa (or you get the required visa as “Visa on arrival” directly upon entry). Afghanistan (ranked 199th) is the bottom of this ranking: the citizens of this state enjoy visa-free travel in just 35 other countries around the world.
Visumfreie Einreise in
Visumfreie Einreise in
Visumfreie Einreise in
The comparison between Germany, South Africa and Afghanistan can also be looked at in more detail here.
This is the current top 20 (as of 2017) of the “Passport Power Ranking” (rank / country / number of countries to which you can enter visa-free)
1. Germany (158)
2. Sweden (157)
3. Singapore (157)
4. Denmark (156)
5. Finland (156)
6. France (156)
7. Spain (156)
8. Switzerland (156)
9. Norway (156)
10. Great Britain (156)
11. USA (156)
12. Italy (155)
13. Netherlands (155)
14. Belgium (155)
15. Austria (155)
16. Luxembourg (155)
17. Portugal (155)
18. Japan (155)
19. Malaysia (154)
20. Ireland (154)
And the last places in the current ranking:
190. Sudan (36)
191. Bangladesh (35)
192. Sri Lanka (35)
193. South Sudan (34)
194. Ethiopia(34)
195. Somalia (30)
196. Syria (29)
197. Iraq (28)
198. Pakistan (26)
199. Afghanistan (23)
Then there is virtually nothing to stop travelling with a German passport 😉