The Singaporean passport can enter 192 countries visa free, making it the #1 passport. The passports in 2nd position with 190 countries visa free are Germany’s, Spain’s, and Italy’s, however, those are self explanatory. EU + Schengen + big world powers. What did Singapore do to achieve that?
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They are the Switzerland of Asia. In other words, they remain politically neutral, have very few capital restrictions, and low taxes. This makes them very desirable to other countries.
Passport “strength” balances two factors. First: how much other countries value having your citizens as tourists. Second: how concerned those other countries are that your citizens might overstay a tourist visa. US citizens can visit Mexico visa free because they are bringing money and are unlikely to attempt an illegal immigration to Mexico. Mexican citizens cannot visit the US visa free, and the visa process is mostly a process of determining that the person has sufficient resources and ties to their home country that the US can be reasonably sure they will return home when they say they will.
A good summary of both these factors is money. Singapore is one of the richest nations in the world, so tourists from Singapore are high-value and low risk. At the margins, Singapore might have a few more visa-free entries because it’s a bit more “neutral” in world politics, so there are fewer concerns that Singaporean tourists might be spies, enemies of the people, etc.
1. Have good relations with other countries
2. Be rich thus making it extremely unlikely your citizens stay in a country illegally
Singapore is (a) rich, (b) not a global threat or prone to poor relations with other countries, and (c) authoritarian that doesn’t antagonize other authoritarians.
The US, for example, has a tendency to antagonize authoritarians (China, Russia, Belarus, etc.) and thus does not have great relations with those countries.
We stay in our lane and enrich your country if we visit. If we come for work it is in industries which requires highly skilled or educated workers.
We have the strongest passport because we have the strongest human capital.
– Diplomacy (Singapore has good relations with pretty much every country, and actively pursues easier travel as a diplomatic goal).
– Very low crime rate.
– Educated high-income population, so no incentive for illegal work in other countries / overstays / committing crime or terrorism in other countries.
– Generally neutral in ongoing conflicts, and – increasingly important these days – didn’t historically colonize other countries.
TL;DR letting Singaporeans visit means you get tourism revenue with no downside risk. At the same time, because Singapore is not a very big country, there is also no concern for over-tourism.
Rich country with strong institutions. Have good political and economic relationships with most other countries. Citizens unlikely to abuse visa free travel.
Adding onto the things most people will say (rich nation/strong diplomacy in foreign policies/relatively neutral country), I would also like to add that Singapore is one of the most easily accessible developed country. Singapore practically allows almost the entire world to enter it visa-free (162 countries as of now), since we are such a small but highly surveillanced country it is almost impossible for anyone to illegally overstay in Singapore without getting caught This makes it very easy to negotiate reciprocal visa exemption agreements with other countries.
Compare it to the US, which is currently ranked 8th in terms of passport power, but only 41 countries are able to apply for the ESTA to enter the US. This means there are a whole ton more countries that are allowing US citizens to enter their country visa free even though their own citizens can’t do so for the US. That, to me, is actually quite impressive in its own right.
Singapore is ‘China-lite’—an autocratic country where the government grants its citizens enough freedom to prevent them from disrupting the status quo or emigrating. This stability helps make Singaporeans desirable tourists abroad making their passport strong.
In addition to its ties to the West, Singapore is part of ASEAN which allows visa-free entry among SE Asian countries. Best of both worlds.
High income, simple as that. Countries want to evaluate how willing you are to fuck off again and not cause trouble. If you have a well paying job the chances are high.
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