UAE’s visa-free score jumps to 155 Comes after Russia and the UAE signed a bilateral visa waiver agreement LONDON: The UAE passport has become one of the world’s most powerful travel documents. The Emirates passport joins the US, Germany and Singapore with a top ten ranking, according to Passport Index, which ranks the documents based on how easy it is to travel when carrying one The UAE’s rise up the ranks comes after the Emirates signed a visa waiver agreement with Russia earlier this week. The list ranks countries on a “visa-free score,” which assigns passports a point for each country their holders can visit. The deal with Russia boosted the UAE’s visa free score to 155. Singapore, the top country, has a score of 166 while Saudi Arabia has a score of 77. Russia, which has a score of 115, will not see a change in its ranking as the UAE already issued a visa-on-arrival for Russian passport holders. More than 750,000 Russians visited the UAE last year, contributing a total of $2.3 billion to the UAE economy. In 2017, the UAE said it wanted to position the country’s passport on the list of the five most powerful in the world by 2021. At the time of the announcement, the UAE passport was scored at 132 - the most powerful in the GCC. Emirati citizens do not need a visa to visit Canada for up to six months. In addition to Canada, the UAE has visa waivers coming in to force from Brazil and Guyana.