SA passport climbs one rank but loses access to two visa-free destinations

SA Passport jumps up a spot on Henley Passport Index

Last month, the Henley Passport Index released its 2025 rankings, placing the South African passport at number 48.

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.

“With historical data spanning 19 years, the Henley Passport Index is the only one of its kind based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.” Henley & Partners says.

And now, according to these rankings, South Africa’s passport has moved up even further, ranking at number 47 on the list of 199 passports.

Despite this, however, the index highlighted that South Africans can now only travel to 104 destinations without requiring a visa, down from last month’s 106 destinations.

The two countries which now do not allow visa-free travel for South Africans are Mauritania and Pakistan, both having moved to an e-visa system for SA tourists instead.

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