Pakistani passport's ranking slips to 101st, still 4th-worst in the world

Pakistan's passport has slipped another position in the closely watched Henley Passport Index, dropping to 101st out of 199 travel documents ranked in the July 2026 update, and remaining the fourth weakest passport in the world.

Where Pakistan stands globally

Only three countries rank below Pakistan on the index: Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, all nations grappling with prolonged instability that has similarly limited their citizens' visa-free travel options. For a passport that has spent much of the past decade hovering near the bottom of the global rankings, this latest slip continues a familiar pattern rather than marking a sudden new low.

The numbers behind the ranking

Pakistani passport holders currently have visa-free access to just 29 countries, down from 30 as recently as May. A further 16 countries offer visa-on-arrival access, while three more can be reached using an electronic travel authorization. Combined, that gives Pakistani travellers meaningfully fewer open-door destinations than the vast majority of passports tracked by the index.

Doors that closed this year

Three destinations discontinued easier access for Pakistani passport holders during 2026: Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique and Qatar all withdrew visa-free or visa-on-arrival arrangements that were previously in place. Each closure chips away at an already short list of accessible destinations, and losing Qatar in particular removes a regionally significant option for a passport with few Gulf destinations left open.

What's still on the list

Destinations that remain visa-free for Pakistani travellers include Barbados, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Micronesia, Montserrat, Rwanda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, The Gambia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu, a list dominated by small island nations and select African states rather than major travel or business hubs.

How the top of the index looks by comparison

Singapore holds the top spot globally with access to 192 destinations, while Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates are tied for second with 188 destinations each. The gap between Singapore's 192 open destinations and Pakistan's 29 visa-free countries illustrates just how wide the divide has become between the index's strongest and weakest passports.

A decade-long slide

Pakistan's passport held the 100th position as recently as 2023 and 2024, before slipping to 98th in March of this year and continuing to decline through the middle of 2026. The ranking has fluctuated between 97th and 101st over the course of the year, meaning the current 101st position sits at the lower end of a range the passport has occupied for months rather than representing an isolated bad reading.

With three destinations already lost this year and the ranking sitting at its weakest point of 2026 so far, Pakistani travellers and policymakers alike are left watching whether the country's diplomatic and security standing can stabilise enough to halt a slide that shows little sign of reversing on its own.

For ordinary travellers, the practical effect is a shrinking list of places reachable without navigating a visa application in advance, a burden that falls hardest on students, workers and business travellers who need to move quickly and cannot always absorb the weeks of processing time that visa requirements typically add.

The loss of Qatar in particular is likely to be felt beyond leisure travel, given the country's role as a regional business and transit hub. Pakistani professionals who previously used it as a convenient stopover or short-notice destination now face the same visa hurdles that already apply to most of the rest of the world.