A brief scroll through Instagram reveals that exotic leisure travel has become a life goal of hipsters, millennials and, heck - pretty much everyone else.  

While Australia, the United Kingdom, USA, Canada and New Zealand remain some of the most popular immigration choices for South Africans, a growing number are also interested in obtaining second passports from other countries towards making international travel cheaper and more accessible.

“Tourist visas can cost a lot of money, especially when you’re travelling with family and wanting to visit several countries or regions during a single trip that starts from Joburg or Cape Town,” said Ryan Rennison, managing director of UK visa agency,

“In light of South Africa being pretty middle-of-road in terms of which countries allow our passport holders in, visa-free, it would be in the interests of those South Africans desiring to travel extensively as a long-term pursuit – who can acquire a second, more powerful passport – to do so,” added Rennison.

According to the Henley Passport Index

South African passports grant access to only 100 countries, currently ranked 53 out of the 107 most powerful passport positions listed.

Here are 2019’s top ten most powerful passports with the number of countries they may enter, visa-free, in brackets:

1.    Japan, Singapore (190)
2.    Finland, Germany, South Korea (188) 
3.    Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (187)
4.    France, Spain, Sweden (186)
5.    Austria, Netherlands, Portugal (185)
6.    Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, UK, USA (184)
7.    Czech Republic, Malta (183)
8.    New Zealand (182)
9.    Australia, Lithuania, Slovakia (181)
10.    Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Slovenia (180)

by Daily Sun