2026-04-28T16:33:25+00:00
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Shafaq News-
Baghdad
The Iraqi
passport continues to rank among the world’s weakest travel documents, placing
99th out of 101 in the 2026 Henley Passport Index, with visa-free access to
just 29 destinations.
Regionally,
Iraq ranks 20th among Arab states, second from last, ahead of Syria only. The
index, which ranks 199 passports by the number of destinations accessible
without a prior visa, placed Afghanistan last at 101st, Syria at 100th, and
Iraq at 99th. The 2026 edition marks a record mobility gap.
Firas Ilyas,
a professor of international relations at the University of Mosul, told Shafaq
News that passport strength is not merely procedural, but reflects a state’s
standing in the international system and the level of trust it commands. He
attributed Iraq’s low ranking to a compound trust deficit built over decades of
successive wars, the post-2003 political and security upheaval, and the
campaign against ISIS, all of which entrenched a negative perception among
foreign governments and drove stricter visa policies.
“The problem
is not with individuals, but with the general perception of the state they
belong to,” Ilyas clarified, adding that institutional weaknesses, particularly
in border management, documentation systems, and governance, reinforce that
perception. Advanced countries assess whether a state can control its citizens’
movement, prevent document fraud, and guarantee returns, while Iraq’s fragile
economy raises concerns over irregular migration, and the presence of armed
groups outside formal state structures further “undermines perceptions of
sovereignty.”
According to
former Transport Minister Salam Al-Maliki, the international community also
links passport strength to economic and security stability, noting that high
unemployment and difficult living conditions drive migration and
asylum-seeking, prompting stricter entry policies. He also cited the lack of
bilateral agreements, limited diplomatic efforts to activate reciprocity with
key countries, and currency instability and modest economic growth as factors
weighing on Iraq’s passport ranking.
Ambassador
Falah Abd Al-Hassan, head of the consular department at Iraq’s Foreign
Ministry, pushed back on this characterization of the passport. “The Iraqi
passport is not the weakest; it is unsupported,” he told Shafaq News, pointing
to the need for stronger media and logistical backing and for new bilateral
visa-exemption agreements with countries willing to receive Iraqi travelers.
Abd
Al-Hassan acknowledged that Iraq’s trajectory since the 1980s, through wars,
economic blockade, and prolonged instability, has made it a “push state,”
leading foreign governments to view Iraqi passport holders as potential asylum
seekers. “The relationship between internal conditions and passport ranking is
direct and significant,” he said. “As security and the economy improve, the
passport’s standing will rise and migration pressures will ease.” He confirmed
that the Foreign Ministry is working to accelerate new bilateral agreements.
Read more: Twenty-three years on: Iraq got what the 2003 invasion produced