UK/US MOBILITY
The UK recorded the steepest year-on-year loss of visa-free access down to 182 countries, eight less than 12 months ago and now on par with Australia, the index says.
The US comes in at #10 in the index’s top 10 (with 179 countries) but the index’s authors says that 37 countries outrank the US for visa-free access, one more than late last year, as US citizens lost open access to seven countries in 12 months.
“Passport power ultimately reflects political stability, diplomatic credibility, and the ability to shape international rules,” says Misha Glenny, journalist and rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
“As transatlantic relations strain and domestic politics grow more volatile, the erosion of mobility rights for countries like the US and UK is less a technical anomaly than a signal of deeper geopolitical recalibration.”
Index creator and Henley chairman Christian H. Kaelin says that over the last 20 years, “global mobility expanded significantly but the benefits were distributed unevenly”.
“Today, passport privilege plays a decisive role in shaping opportunity, security and economic participation, with rising average access masking a reality in which mobility advantages are increasingly concentrated among the world’s most economically powerful and politically stable nations.”
DUAL CITIZENSHIP INQUIRIES
Henley & Partners recently told CNN that last year Americans accounted for 30% of their clients who are looking for dual citizenship.
Last year, the firm says, applications for dual citizenship rose 28% on 2024’s total; most of these came from the US then Turkiye, India, China and UK (as British dual citizenship applications rose to historic heights).
“What we are seeing is a fundamental shift in how globally mobile individuals think about access and security”, says Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners.
“In an era of geopolitical uncertainty and increasingly fragmented travel regimes, residence and citizenship planning has evolved into an essential strategy for building resilience, optionality, and mobility certainty across multiple jurisdictions.”
This shift is most pronounced among US nationals, now the firm’s largest client market.
“Americans are continuing their scramble for alternative residence and (dual) citizenship amid ongoing political turbulence, with interest now at an all-time high”, confirms Prof. Peter J. Spiro, a professor at Temple University Law School.
“What was once seen as an extreme contingency has become a mainstream form of risk management — a durable Plan B that offers security, mobility, and peace of mind in an increasingly unpredictable world.”
AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM
American passport holders can visit 179 countries visa-free but the US allows only 46 nationalities to enter without a visa, ranking it 78th out of 199 countries, the firm says in another of its indexes.
This gap between outbound mobility and inbound access is second only to Australia and marginally ahead of Canada, New Zealand and Japan.
It notes that China has been granting visa-free access to over 40 more countries over the past two years including Canada most recently; now ranked 62nd, China allows 77 nationalities in.
“There is a visible shift underway in the global balance of power, marked by China’s renewed openness and the US retreat into nationalism”, says Dr. Tim Klatte, a partner at Grant Thornton China.
“As countries increasingly compete for influence through mobility, openness is becoming a critical component of soft power.”
