The latest Henley & Partners Passport Index for 2023 shows where South Africans can travel around the world without needing a visa.

The index found that the Singapore passport was the most powerful, with a visa-free score of 192, followed by Germany, Italy, and Spain in a tie for 2nd with a score of 190.

Several first-world countries also tied for 3rd place, which included Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Sweden, with a score of 189.

Afghanistan sits at the bottom of the list with a score of 27, below both Iraq and Syria with a score of 29 and 30, respectively.

The analysis included 199 passports and 227 travel destinations, ranking them in terms of travel power. According to the investment migration consultancy, each passport is scored on the total number of destinations that the holder can access visa-free.

“For each travel destination, if no visa is required, then a score of 1 is allocated for that passport. This applies if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) upon entry,” said Henley & Partners.

South Africa

South Africa places around the middle of the pack in the 52nd position out of 104 countries with a visa-free score of 106. Compared to the previous year, the country has gained three positions from 55th.

As a result, there are 106 countries spread across the globe that a South African passport holder can travel to visa-free. Burundi and Gambia have now allowed visa-free South African passport holders to enter the country.

In light of the high cost of living, if one can afford to travel abroad, one must bear in mind another increasing expense beyond plane tickets. In November last year, passports domestically saw a 50% price change – up from R200 to R600. Larger books for jet setters are now R1,200.

According to the minister of home affairs Aaron Motsoaledi, the jump in prices was a result of the last change only coming a decade ago – noting that they were three times cheaper than many other countries.

The South African passport has also been made a mockery by criminal syndicates using them to launder money, traffic people in and out of certain countries or aid in corruption.

Motsoaledi said that the hiking of the price is also an attempt to secure the document’s reputation within the global community.

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Below are the 106 countries South Africans can travel to visa-free according to the latest Henley & Partners report (Note: *visa on arrival, **eTA):

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Africa

Angola	Kenya	Seychelles*
Benin	Lestho	Sierra Leone*
Botswana	Madagascar*	Somalia*
Burundi*	Malawi	St. Helena*
Cape Verde Islands*	Mauritania*	Tanzania
Comoro Islands*	Mauritius	The Gambia
eSwatini	Mozambique	Togo*
Ethiopia*	Namibia	Tunisia
Gabon	Nigeria*	Uganda*
Ghana*	Reunion	Zambia
Guinea-Bissau*	Rwanda*	Djibouti *
Zimbabwe	Senegal

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Americas 

Argentina	Ecuador	Nicaragua
Belize	El Salvador	Panama
Bolivia*	Falkland Islands	Paraguay
Brazil	Guatemala	Peru
Chile	Guyana	Uruguay
Costa Rica	Honduras	Venezuela

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Asia

Cambodia*	Malaysia	Sri Lanka*
Hong Kong (SAR China)	Maldives*	Tajikistan*
Indonesia	Nepal*	Thailand
Kyrgyzstan*	Pakistan*	Timor-Leste*
Laos*	Phillipines	South Korea **
Macao (SAR China)	Singapore

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Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda	Dominican Republic	St. Lucia
Bahamas	Grenada	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Barbados	Haiti	Trinidad and Tobago
British Virgin Islands	Jamaica	Turks and Caicos
Cayman Islands	Montserrat
Dominica	St. Kitts and Nevis

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Europe

Georgia	Ireland	Kosovo
Russian Federation

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Middle East 

Armenia*	Jordan*	Qatar
Iran*	Oman
Israel	Palestinian Territories

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Oceania 

Cook Islands	Micronesia	Samoa*
Fiji	Niue	Tuvalu*
Marshall Islands*	Palau Islands*	Vanuatu

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Read: UK visa price hikes – this is how much more South Africans will pay