A bilateral visa waiver agreement with Russia has helped push the UAE unto the world’s most powerful passport list. The agreement has helped boost the UAE’s visa-free score to 155.
With its new score, the UAE is in10th spot on the list of world’s most powerful passports. Currently the 10th place is shared with Cyprus, as indicated by Passport Index' real-time global ranking of world passports.
Top of the list is Singapore, with a visa-free score of 166, while Germany is placed second with a score of 164. The third slot is shared by as many as 12 countries, including US, South Korea, Italy and France.
However, Russia, currently at 115, won't see a change in its visa-free score from this agreement, as the UAE had already issued a visa-on-arrival for Russian passport holders.
Over 750,000 Russians visited the UAE last year, contributing a total of $2.3 billion to the UAE economy.