In 2024, the most powerful passport in the world belongs to Singapore while second place is tied by Japan (last year’s front-runner), France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Citizens of these nations can visit over 190 destinations around the world without a visa while the number allowed for the lowest-ranking countries on the list is only in the thirties.
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China is a country that has traditionally made it particularly difficult for foreigners to visit. Applying for a visa from many Western countries previously required coming to the consulate with not just one’s personal and employment information but also booked tickets and a hotel stay even before right to entry has been granted.
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Post-pandemic, the Chinese government has been on a desperate mission to revive the country’s floundering tourism industry and launched a trial run travel policy in which citizens of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland can enter the country without a visa for up to 15 days.
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Australia and New Zealand were added to the list a few days later and while the United States and the United Kingdom are not among the list of visa-free nations, their citizens now have a simplified visa application process (a pre-paid stay is no longer required to apply.)
The latest country to get added to China’s visa-free list is Norway. On Sept. 9, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced a joint agreement for tourist access.
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“This will make it much easier for Norwegian businesses, students and others to travel to China,” Støre said at a local press conference “It facilitates more cooperation.”
Norway is not a member of the European Union but it is part of the Schengen Zone that allows for visa-free travel on the European continent. Granting visa-free access into Norway is thus subject to Schengen rules and so no information on whether Norway would reciprocate China’s loosened policy has been announced.
By all accounts, China has been satisfied with the outcome of the laxer rules. While the visa-free trial run was initially supposed to run until November 2024, it has now been extended for all of 2025 as tourists bring spending power and provide a necessary boost to the country’s economy.
“The extension of the short-term visa-free policy until the end of 2025 will undoubtedly further boost confidence and enthusiasm for traveling to China, and will contribute to the growth of inbound tourism as well as aid in the prosperity of the industry," President of the China Tourism Academy Dai Bin told a local news outlet earlier this year.
While visitors from the U.S. are still required to apply for a visa at a consulate, they are eligible for China’s recently-expanded "72/144-Hour Visa-Free Transit Policy" that also grants certain international visitors access to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, Shanghai or Guangdong for short visits of no more than 144 hours (this is usually taken up by those coming to the country as part of a cruise trip or on a stopover to another Asian destination.)
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