Home Affairs responds to South Africa’s recent passport ranking globally
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber states that the recent improvement in the South African passport’s strength is just the start.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, has welcomed the latest Henley Passport Index, which shows that South Africa’s “green mamba” passport ranking increased by 10% between 2024 and 2025.
As a result of the increase in the relative strength of the passport, South Africa has shot up to the top 50 in the world for the first time in a decade, improving from 53rd in 2024 to 48th at the beginning of 2025.
HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER WELCOMES LATEST HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX RANKING
The Henley Passport Index is the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their passport-holders can travel to visa-free. The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
The South African passport allows South Africans to travel to 106 destinations without requiring a visa.
Following the improved ranking, Schreiber said the relative improvement in the strength of the South African passport is only the beginning, as it coincides with the reform process underway at Home Affairs, which is built around the digital transformation of all Home Affairs processes.
Schreiber said that fully digitalising and closing off fraud and manipulation, the process of obtaining enabling documents—including passports—will significantly enhance the integrity of our documents.
“The latest Henley Passport Index also emphasises the global shift towards digitalising visa processes, a critical component of our reforms. Additionally, the targets proposed by Home Affairs for inclusion in the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) that will guide the work of the seventh administration, including introducing biometric or ‘e-Passports’ that feature an embedded microprocessor chip to authenticate the biometric information of all South African travellers.
“Our plans to introduce an e-Passport and to digitally secure both document and passport processes for South Africans, as well as visa processes for foreigners, will combine to meaningfully increase the power of our passport over the coming years,” the minister said.
WHICH COUNTRIES HAVE THE MOST POWERFUL PASSPORTS?
Notably, Singapore ranks at number one at the beginning of 2025 retaining its position from last year. Here are the top five most powerful passports in the world:
| Rank | Country | Number of visa-free countries |
| 1 | Singapore | 195 |
| 2 | Japan | 193 |
| 3 | Finland | 192 |
| 3 | France | 192 |
| 3 | Germany | 192 |
| 3 | Italy | 192 |
| 3 | South Korea | 192 |
| 3 | Spain | 192 |
| 4 | Austria | 191 |
| 4 | Denmark | 191 |
| 4 | Ireland | 191 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 191 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 191 |
| 4 | Norway | 191 |
| 4 | Sweden | 191 |
| 5 | Belgium | 190 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 190 |
| 5 | Portugal | 190 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 190 |
| 5 | United Kingdom | 190 |