Uganda’s passport ranked 11th in Africa

Launch. The Internal Affairs Minister, Gen Jejje Odong (left) launches the first batch of Electronic passports (E-passports), a fortnight after they were announced as the next form of travel document for Ugandan nationals on December 4. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

In the global ranking, Uganda is tied with Morocco, the Philippines, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.

Kampala. The 2018 Passport Index has placed the Ugandan passport in the 11th position in Africa and 64th among passports of 198 nations of the world.
Uganda and Morocco share a passport power rank of 65, but are below East African neighbours Kenya and Tanzania, who lie in the eighth and ninth positions with respective passport ranked 62 and 63.
The global passport power ranking is arrived at based on an assessment of the visa restrictions or visa-free score.

Neighbouring Kenya
Kenya allows nationals of 39 countries to visit it without a visa and nationals of 32 other countries can obtain visas on arrival.
It is nationals of 127 other countries of the world that require visas to visit Kenya.
Nationals of 42 countries do not require visas to visit Tanzania and those from another 28 countries can get the visas on arrival, while nationals of 128 nations require visas to enter the country.
Uganda is not doing as well as its two neighbours as citizens of 130 countries require visas to enter the country.
It only allows nationals of 35 countries to visit without visas and gives nationals of 33 countries visas on arrival.

Top positions
The top four positions are occupied by Seychelles, Mauritius, South African and Botswana with passport rankings of 27, 44, 57 and 58 respectively.
At 133, Seychelles has the highest number of countries whose nationals it allows to enter its borders without visas.
It also gives nationals of 33 nations visas on arrival and requires nationals from only 62 countries of the world to have visas.
Mauritius, which is in second place requires nationals of 66 countries to have visas, but allows nationals of 99 countries to visit without visas and gives nationals of 33 countries visas on arrival.

South Africa, which is in third place, requires nationals from at least 100 countries to first get visas before visiting, but is visa-free for nationals of 63 countries and gives nationals of 35 countries visas on arrival.
Botswana makes it incumbent upon nationals from 122 nations to have visas before visiting it, but is visa free for nationals of 46 countries and gives nationals of 28 nations visas on arrival.

The global ranking

Same position. In the global ranking, Uganda is tied with Morocco, the Philippines, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
Number one. The global rankings are led by the United Arab Emirates, which has a passport power rank of 2. UAE is visa-free for nationals of 113 nations and gives nationals of 54 countries visas on arrival. Only nationals of 31 countries are required to have visas before entering UAE.
Second place. Tied in second place are Germany and Singapore, which have a passport power rank of 3.

Visa free. Singapore is visa-free for nationals of 127 countries and gives nationals of 39 countries visas on arrival. Citizens of only 32 nations are required to have visas before visiting Singapore.
Visa exception. Germany on the other hand is visa-free for nationals of 126 nations and gives nationals of 40 nations visas on arrival. It is only nationals of 32 countries that are required to have visas.