Bad news for anyone with a South African passport

The South African passport is the 100th most powerful passport in the world – a middling placement that comes across as weaker due to severely limited visa-free travel, poor global perception and limited personal freedoms.

This is according to Nomad Capitalist, a tax and immigration consultancy, as per its Nomad Passport Index 2025.

Unlike other passport ranking metrics, Nomad Capitalist analyses five important aspects of passport strength:

• Visa-Free travel (50%)
• Taxation (20%)
• Global perception (10%)
• Ability to hold dual citizenship (10%) and
• Personal freedom (10%)

The aim of these factors will allow people considering a different or additional passport to better understand the “true value” of citizenship around the world.

Ireland has the strongest passport in the world according to the index, taking top spot from Switzerland.

“While both countries offer world-class global mobility, Ireland pulls ahead thanks to a slight edge in visa-free, visa-on-arrival and ETA-based travel, combined with fast-track citizenship options,” Nomad said.

“Irish citizens enjoy the right to live and work freely across the EU and, uniquely, in the UK,” it said.

“With its strong international reputation, entrepreneur-friendly tax policies and the overall flexibility of its passport, Ireland claims the title of the world’s strongest passport for 2025.”

South Africa ranking

South Africa ranked 100th in the ranking, tied with Ecuador, with a total score of 68.50 – far behind Ireland’s 109.0.

For the visa-free travel section (which accounts for 50% of the score), South Africans can travel to 111 countries without a visa visa on arrival, or via an eTA.

This is well below Ireland’s 176, or even Ukraine’s 149.

When looking at taxation (20%), Nomad Capitalist relies on data from its network of tax vendors, news sources, and tax authorities themselves.

It assigned the lowest score of 10 to countries that tax citizens no matter where they are, all the way to countries with zero tax at a score of 50.

South Africa received a taxation score of 20, meaning that South Africa allows citizens to relocate to avoid tax.

Perception (10%) relied on the World Happiness Report, the Human Development Index, and subjective factors from Nomad Capitalist networks’ experiences to determine how each country’s citizens are recognised.

The lowest score of 10 is for citizens who are refused entry to a substantial number of countries. Scores of 50 are for the happiest countries in the world and where citizens experience minimal hostility.

South Africa received a Perception score of 20, meaning that South African citizens experience “intermediate” hostility.

For the Dual Citizenship score calculation (10%), Nomad Capitalist relies on embassy data and its experiences to asses the ability to hold dual citizenship.

A score of 10 strictly forbids dual citizenship, while a score of 50 allows for it freely.

Based on the data, South Africa scored a Dual Citizenship score of 50, meaning that South African citizens are almost always allowed to hold other citizenships.

For freedom (10%), the consultancy used data and news reports on military service, government surveillance, press freedom, and other factors to determine the personal freedom of citizens, travellers and expats.

Scores of 10 being the least free and 50 being the freest. South Africa had a score of 20, meaning that South African citizens have low freedom.

Overall, from 2024 to 2025, South Africa’s position on the rankings has not changed despite its overall score improving slightly from 67 in 2024 to 68.5 in 2025.