Thanks to the ongoing Brexit campaign and the strong press coverage surrounding the immigration crisis, the press has been littered with the term ‘visa-free’ over recent months; but it’s a term that many may be unaware of, as well as the true benefits that are involved.
Visa-free travel is the ability to visit a country without having to complete the lengthy visa procedures. If the governments of those two countries have a signed agreement, nationals of the countries involved can travel without a visa, allowing easy travel to some of the worlds most sort after destinations at the drop of a hat.
As recent reports have found, high-net-worth individuals are increasingly investing in citizenship by investment programmes, with one of the many benefits of such a substantial investment being the visa-free access that can be gained.
Depending on which programme is chosen, a second passport can allow investors to become ‘global citizens’, bypassing the usual lengthy paperwork and enabling access to hundreds of countries without the traditional visa process.
At present Germany has the strongest passport, as Germans have visa-free access to 177 countries across the world, with Sweden in second place and France, Finland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom all tied for third place.
For most EU countries travelling visa-free is a luxury that many can underestimate, but if you’re based in a country that is in any political conflict it can reduce your ability to travel visa-free, for example Pakistan and Iraq rank bottom of the Visa Restriction Index.
To understand the true benefits of visa-free access, CS Global Partners have created the below infographic.
