African Union passport to introduce visa-free mobility within its member states
Montreal, July 19, 2016 – The African Union passport was officially launched on July 17, 2016 and the first two copies were issued. African passport owners are now the presidents of Chad and Rwanda.
Although the initial reports indicated that the new passport is intended for heads of state, ministers of foreign affairs and high office diplomats only, the expressed interest is apparently so overwhelming that the African Union Commission is now talking about issuance of African passports to all respective nationals.
Given the interest that the news spiked, Passport Index analyzed the potential effect that the passport will have on the current 54 AU member states.
Key findings:
- The Seychelles and Mauritius’ passports will break in the global Top 20 most powerful passports. Seychelles’ visa-free score is 147 and Mauritius’ – 141. They will rank 12 and 17, respectively
- The top 3 AU member passports – Seychelles, Mauritius, and South Africa – will remain the same
- The average visa-free score to increase to 83, up with 27 from 55
- The average passport index rank of the countries in the group will move up to 49 from 74
- Seychelles’ passport will competes in ranking with European destinations such as Cyprus and even surpasses some
In times when Europe is eroding, Africa is uniting. For more information, please visit the website of the African Union.
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