How We Count: Data & Methodology

Access categories

Every passport-destination pair in our database is classified into one of five categories:

• Visa-free — entry permitted with no visa and no pre-travel authorization.
• Visa on arrival (VOA) — an entry permit issued at the border or airport, with no pre-approval required before travel. Conditional visas on arrival — those requiring a prior visa, residence permit, or other pre-existing authorization to qualify — are classified as visa-required, since they are not available to a standard traveler on arrival.
• Electronic travel authorization (eTA) — a quick, automated pre-registration (like ESTA or ETIAS) for travelers who are already visa-exempt. Not a visa.
• e-Visa — a visa applied for online before travel, requiring government review and approval. This is a visa requirement.
• Visa required — a visa must be obtained from an embassy or consulate before travel.

Our headline number

The headline figure on each passport page — “destinations visa-free or on arrival” — is the sum of visa-free, visa-on-arrival, and eTA destinations. This matches the classification approach used by the Henley Passport Index: if you can board a plane without applying for a visa in advance, it counts. e-Visas do not count, because they require an application and approval before departure.

Global rankings are ordered by this same number; passports with equal counts share the same rank.

Why our totals differ from other indexes

We count access across 199 sovereign destinations. Some well-known indexes count against a larger universe of up to 227 destinations that includes dependent territories (such as overseas territories of the UK, France, and the Netherlands). Because territories almost always follow their parent country’s visa policy, including them inflates every passport’s total by roughly 25–30 without adding independent information. Our totals therefore run lower than those indexes — not because we found different visa rules, but because we count fewer, more meaningful destinations.

Data sources and verification

Our data is compiled from official government and embassy sources. Our data is re-verified monthly against official sources, and each page displays when its data was last checked. Visa policy changes constantly: always confirm requirements with the destination’s embassy or official government source before booking travel.

Corrections

Spotted an error? We take accuracy seriously. Email us at visaornot1@gmail.com and we’ll verify and correct it.