Passport strength

Depending on their methodology, different companies rank different countries highest for passport strength in 2024.

Henley & Partners puts France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and Spain in first place. Their passports give visa-free access to 194 countries. In second place are Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden, with 193 countries. In third are Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. The USA is 6th, the UAE 11th, Cyprus 14th and Russia 52nd.

The Passport Index ranks countries differently, with the UAE first at 179 countries. Second place is shared by France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria and Switzerland — 177 countries do not require visas for these passports. Third place goes to Sweden, Belgium, Finland and Ireland, with 176 countries. The USA is again 6th, Cyprus 9th and Russia 36th.

A new passport

We do not aim for an exhaustive sample and take news of businesspeople changing citizenship from open sources. Links to the materials used are given at the end.

Timur Turlov (Freedom Holding) obtained a Kazakhstan passport and lives in Kazakhstan.

Ruben Vardanyan (Troika Dialog) obtained an Armenian passport. He is currently in Azerbaijan.

Yuri Milner (DST Global) obtained an Israeli passport.

Nikolay Storonsky (Revolut) obtained a British passport and lives in the UK.

Oleg Tinkov (Tinkoff Group) obtained a Cypriot passport. He lives in Italy.

Igor Makarov (Areti group) obtained a Cypriot passport.

Ratmir Timashev (Veeam Software) obtained a Cypriot passport and lives in the USA.

Andrei Baronov (Veeam Software) obtained a Cypriot passport and lives in Switzerland.

Mikhail Kokorich (Tekhnosila) obtained a Swiss passport and lives in the USA.

Vasily Anisimov (private investor) obtained a Croatian passport and lives in Croatia.

Pavel Durov (Telegram) obtained a UAE passport and lives in the UAE.

It seems that, on a subjective value-for-money basis, Russian millionaires are most interested in citizenship by investment. In particular, an EU passport in exchange for a €5m investment in the Cypriot economy seems a sensible option to them.

According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23,500 people renounced Russian citizenship in 2022 and 13,600 acquired it. From January to September 2023, about 4,400 people renounced Russian citizenship and 15,000 were granted it.

Sources

1. https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking
2. https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php
3. https://www.forbes.ru/milliardery/483156-i-byl-takov-kto-iz-ucastnikov-spiska-forbes-otkazalsa-ot-rossijskogo-grazdanstva?image=481527
4. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6453273?utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fdzen.ru%2Fnews%2Fsearch%3Ftext%3D
5. https://aif.ru/society/mid_rf_4_4_tys_chelovek_otkazalis_ot_rossiyskogo_grazhdanstva_v_2023_godu