Most people only think about their passport a few times a year. It lives at the back of a drawer, pulled out for summer holidays or the occasional trip.
But for a growing number of globally-affluent individuals, a passport has become a hedge. An insurance policy against uncertainty. It’s a way to guarantee that if the rules change where you are, your whole life doesn’t have to change too.
The shift takes centre stage on a recent podcast episode of BeGlobal, as host Gizane Campos joins Patricia Casaburi and Laura Madrid Sartoretto to unpack Global Citizen Solutions’ 2025 Global Passport Index.
“A global citizen is someone who has options”
What does a global citizen mean today?
Patricia defines a global citizen as someone who has options. “They will design a life across borders. They’ll choose where they want to live, study, invest, seek out opportunity and values that might not depend on their birthplace any longer.”
Even a decade ago, those options were often reduced to how many borders you could cross without a visa. A strong passport was a passport that got you through more e-gates.
But, as Patricia points out, that’s no longer enough. The passport, in other words, has moved from being a travel document to what she calls “a cornerstone of financial and family planning”.
It’s now part of how people secure access to:
- Banking systems that remain open, even when rules tighten at home
- Healthcare and education that aren’t tried to a single national system
- Safe zones they can turn to if politics, regulation, or security deteriorate
Against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented world, having a Plan B citizenship – an alternative citizenship to enact in case of crisis – has become a risk management tool.
The Passport Index: Beyond visa-free travel access
Most passport rankings still confine the concept of mobility to how many places you can go and how conveniently you can move across borders.
The Global Passport Index (GPI) takes a wider view, combining mobility access, quality of life, and investment attractiveness to show how well citizens can live and invest in their chosen jurisdictions.
This is part of why Europe dominates the top of the 2025 GPI ranking, whereby nine out of ten of the world’s strongest passports are European, and Sweden takes the first spot.
“Europe shows stable indicators for politics, innovation ecosystems and integrated frameworks,” Laura notes. “European countries and especially the Nordics rank really well across all dimensions, but especially in the quality of life one.”
What does that quality of life look like in practice?
According to the Passport Index, it’s about excellent governance quality, social trust, access to nature and green spaces, powerful education systems and reliable healthcare.
The dream passports that are slipping
If the Nordics and much of Europe are consolidating their position at the top of the global passport hierarchy, some long-held “dream” destinations are slowly moving in the opposite direction.
The United States is one such example. When Global Citizen Solutions first launched the Global Passport Index in 2021, the US passport ranked first. Today, it sits outside the top ten.
That decline doesn’t mean these passports have suddenly lost their usefulness. While the US, alongside Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, still offer broad global access, their relative position has changed because of economic pressure points that increasingly shape mobility outcomes.
Rising inflation, housing affordability constraints, and domestic cost-of-living pressures have begun to weigh on indicators that feed into passport strength. These are challenges shared by many advanced economies, but they nonetheless affect how freely citizens can move and how welcome they are perceived to be abroad.
There is also a less visible mechanism at work: the concept of reciprocity. When a country tightens entry conditions for certain nationalities, those restrictions are often mirrored in return. Over time, this can change visa-free access in ways most people only notice when they reach a border.
This is precisely the kind of nuance captured in the Index’s enhanced mobility dimension. For American citizens, it doesn’t translate into closed doors, but it does mean fewer of them open automatically than before.
Singapore and the Caribbean’s rise to power
If some passports are losing ground, others are steadily gaining it. Singapore stands out as the only non-European passport in the global top ten.
Singapore has a predictable jurisdiction, with open borders for talent and wealth. Considering the country’s geopolitical positioning between East and West, it offers reliable access to key markets and trade. The city nation also offers unparalleled opportunities for wealth managers and investors.
As Laura explains, “When you want to start your business there, they have legislation that is attracting family offices, and with family offices, you attract wealth. And that’s why Singapore has top positions in both dimensions, enhanced mobility and investment dimension of the Passport Index.”
The Caribbean region has also risen up the ranks, driven in part by its flexible mobility policy and enhanced regional cooperation between different states.
For decades, countries like St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia were seen primarily as tourism economies. In recent years, they have also become case studies in how small states can use citizenship programs as part of a wider economic resilience strategy.
As Laura Madrid explains:
“Since 2021, the Caribbean island nations have been recovering from pandemic-related tourism losses. Investment from citizenship programs has played a role in stabilising revenues and supporting GDP growth, alongside the rebound in tourism.”
The impact is visible in passport performance. Antigua and Barbuda has climbed fourteen positions since tracking began. St. Kitts and Nevis has gained ten. Saint Lucia, eight.
Ultimately, well-governed small states can deploy targeted investment and mobility policies to reinforce their global position.
The next decade in citizenship
Where is citizenship heading in the next decade? Patricia sees it becoming increasingly adaptive.
“I think citizenship will continue to move away from national identity to a more dynamic, responsive framework in terms of rights and places to live. Citizenship is becoming modular.”
Such a future means global citizens might combine:
- Multiple citizenships
- Layered residency rights
- Digital work and services that move with you
- Structures that decouple economic rights from political rights
“In the industry, we’re witnessing more rights decoupling. For instance, economic rights are getting separated by political rights or residency rights from citizenship. You might have someone who will live in one place for economic reasons, but they’re looking to cultivate this kind of political stability in their future.”
“If you think that goods and services are mobile, why not people?” Laura asks. “People with their rights secured, regularized immigration, of course, but why not have this mobile community?”
How to move forward with citizenship and residency planning
Not everyone is ready – or willing – to relocate in the near term. Most have obligations that keep them where they are. Contrary to popular belief, future-proofing doesn’t mean relocating overnight.
Rather, Patricia notes, “citizens create this resilient optionality into their life plans. So they never feel they’re forced into a corner.”
To best prepare for a Plan B citizenship, Patricia recommends:
- Acquiring a residency-by-investment permit that gives you a legal foothold in the EU
- Securing a second citizenship that expands your visa-free mobility
- Reassessing how your banking, business structures, and your children’s future education are tied to particular jurisdictions
“Your plan B might include a second passport for mobility. A property investment can grant you rights for residence with international banking access. And your children’s education pathways might open. All these pieces, they come together eventually.”
Explore the Global Passport Index
You can explore the full Global Passport Index 2025 on the Global Citizen Solutions website, and listen to the full BeGlobal episode with Patricia Casaburi and Laura Madrid for a deeper dive into the data, the trends, and what they might mean for your own future plans.