{"id":819967,"date":"2025-04-08T08:13:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T06:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=819967"},"modified":"2025-04-08T08:14:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T06:14:04","slug":"bad-news-for-anyone-with-a-south-african-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/819967\/bad-news-for-anyone-with-a-south-african-passport\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for anyone with a South African passport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The South African passport is the 100th most powerful passport in the world &#8211; a middling placement that comes across as weaker due to severely limited visa-free travel, poor global perception and limited personal freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is according to Nomad Capitalist, a tax and immigration consultancy, as per its Nomad Passport Index 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike other passport ranking metrics, Nomad Capitalist analyses five important aspects of passport strength: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Visa-Free travel (50%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Taxation (20%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Global perception (10%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ability to hold dual citizenship (10%) and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Personal freedom (10%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The aim of these factors will allow people considering a different or additional passport to better understand the &#8220;true value&#8221; of citizenship around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ireland has the strongest passport in the world according to the index, taking top spot from Switzerland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; Nomad said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Irish citizens enjoy the right to live and work freely across the EU and, uniquely, in the UK,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With its strong international reputation, entrepreneur-friendly tax policies and the overall flexibility of its passport, Ireland claims the title of the world\u2019s strongest passport for 2025.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>South Africa ranking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664-1024x577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-812910\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664-1024x577.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/saa-e1739947443664.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>South Africa ranked 100th in the ranking, tied with Ecuador, with a total score of 68.50 &#8211; far behind Ireland&#8217;s 109.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is well below Ireland&#8217;s 176, or even Ukraine&#8217;s 149.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When looking at taxation (20%), Nomad Capitalist relies on data from its network of tax vendors, news sources, and tax authorities themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa received a taxation score of 20, meaning that South Africa allows citizens to relocate to avoid tax. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perception (10%) relied on the World Happiness Report, the Human Development Index, and subjective factors from Nomad Capitalist networks\u2019 experiences to determine how each country\u2019s citizens are recognised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa received a Perception score of 20, meaning that South African citizens experience &#8220;intermediate&#8221; hostility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Dual Citizenship score calculation (10%), Nomad Capitalist relies on embassy data and its experiences to asses the ability to hold dual citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A score of 10 strictly forbids dual citizenship, while a score of 50 allows for it freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, from 2024 to 2025, South Africa&#8217;s position on the rankings has not changed despite its overall score improving slightly from 67 in 2024 to 68.5 in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><div class=\"table-responsive\"><table class=\"table\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Rank<\/strong> <\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><strong>2025 Country<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>2025 Score<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Position Change<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Ireland<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">109.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">+1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Switzerland<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">108.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">-1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Greece<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">108.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">+4<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Portugal<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">108.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">-1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Malta<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">107.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">+9<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Italy<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">107.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">+1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&#8211;<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">&#8211;<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>98<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Vanuatu<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">70.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>99<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Belize<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">70.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>100T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">South Africa<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">68.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>100T<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Ecuador<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">68.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>102<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Thailand<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">67.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>&#8211;<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">&#8211;<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>198<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Yemen<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">30.50<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">-1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>199<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Afghanistan<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">27.00<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">&#8211;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: Nomad Capitalist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/nomad-passport-index-2025.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of nomad-passport-index-2025.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-1aaaf268-28f0-46b7-aa2f-b0a83d385cbd\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/nomad-passport-index-2025.pdf\">nomad-passport-index-2025<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/nomad-passport-index-2025.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-1aaaf268-28f0-46b7-aa2f-b0a83d385cbd\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa&#8217;s passport carries a poor global reputation, and holders have low levels of freedom with limited open travel options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":813303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[14973],"class_list":["post-819967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-nomad-capitalist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819967"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":820017,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819967\/revisions\/820017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}