Canadian passport ranked 7th most powerful for visa-free travel

The Canadian passport includes graphics that are only visible under blacklight. This is both an aesthetic feature as well as a method of validating the authenicity of the passport.

The Canadian passport includes graphics that are only visible under blacklight. This is both an aesthetic feature as well as a method of validating the authenticity of the passport.

As any traveller knows, passports are the ultimate “don’t leave home without it” item, but the country from which a passport is supplied can have a major effect on travel plans and time spent abroad.

GoEuro, a Berlin-based metasearch travel website, analyzed passports from 50 countries around the world to discover which nationalities’ passports are the most useful for travellers to make their way around the globe.

Analysis of a country’s passport to produce the ranking was based on information such as visa-free access—the number of countries that could be visited by the passport holder without obtaining a visa—as well as cost and length of validity.

The Canadian passport ranked number seven overall, with visa-free access to 173 countries at a cost of $120 for a five-year passport and $160 for a 10-year passport. If a Canadian passport is delivered to a traveller outside of Canada, fees for 5-year and 10-year passports are $190 and $260, respectively.

Following are the top 10 passport rankings in the GoEuro survey.

Country                       Visa-free Access                Passport Cost (in US$)

1. Sweden                                         174                                       $43
2. Finland                                         174                                       $56
3. Germany                                       174                                       $69
4. United Kingdom                           174                                       $110
5. USA                                              174                                       $135
6. Denmark                                      173                                       $95
7. Canada                                         173                                       $98
8. Spain                                            172                                       $30
9. Belgium                                        172                                       $76
10. Netherlands                                172                                      $78