Dual citizenship is the new ‘Plan B’ for American and British citizens as their passports continue losing visa-free access, a new report says.
The interest comes at a time when the US and UK governments are tightening visa-free access to visitors from other countries like Australia.
The 2026 Henley Passport Index found that Singapore (192 countries), Japan and South Korea (188) passports had the greatest free access (or ‘power’); Australia has visa-free access to 182 countries, with New Zealand on 183.
The index was created by the London-based global citizenship and residence
advisory firm Henley & Partners based on International Air Transport Association (IATA) data.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC Radio on January 21 that she had raised her concerns with the UK over changes to its passport laws that are affecting UK-Australian dual citizens.
“This is a broader change that many Australian-British dual citizens are caught up in,” she says.
“We’ve conveyed these concerns to the British High Commission (in Canberra) and I hope we can work through this.”
In the UK, as of February 25, visitors from Australia and NZ will require an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) and eVisa to visit; applications for an ETA will be done through an app, cost £16 (A$32) and take three working days.
TRAVEL DEMAND GROWING
As visa-free access falls for some, global demand for international travel is growing outside the US, IATA says.
The association believes that airlines will carry more than 5.2 billion passengers globally this year.
“A record number of people are expected to travel in 2026,” says IATA Director-General Willie Walsh.
He says that the economic and social benefits of this travel will grow but as more people have the economic freedom to travel, many travellers “are seeing that a passport alone is no longer sufficient to cross borders”.
“As many governments look to tightly secure their borders, technological advances such as digital ID and digital passports should not be overlooked by policymakers; convenient travel and secure borders are possible,” he says.
(Western Australia says the 1.024 million visitors that visited the state in the 12 months up to October 2025 was a record. Brisbane Airport also reported that 2025 was its busiest year on record with 25 million passengers; international visitors were up 10.7% as 26,111 overseas travellers passed through the international terminal, a record as well.)
Henley & Partners predicts that a US Customs and Border proposal could effectively end visa-free travel to the US in all but name; the agency wants the citizens of the 42 countries listed on its Visa Waiver Program (including Australia, UK, France, Germany and Japan) to submit extensive social media and personal data.
“For Europeans long accustomed to near-frictionless travel, the implications go far beyond inconvenience”, says Greg Lindsay, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a senior fellow at Arizona State University.
“This level of data collection enables real-time ideological screening and creates the risk that personal information could be shared, repurposed, or weaponised.”
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