The ability to enter a country for a short stay without obtaining a visa in advance. The visa-free count of a passport is the standard headline metric for passport strength.
Visa-free access — sometimes "visa-free or visa-on-arrival" — refers to a passport holder's ability to enter another country without securing a visa in advance through the destination's consulate.
The headline metric, popularised by the Henley Passport Index and the Arton Capital Passport Index, counts the number of destinations open without a prior visa. The strongest CBI passports (Malta, St Kitts) currently access 150+ destinations visa-free, including the entire Schengen Area and the UK.
Visa-free is distinct from visa-on-arrival (issued at the border for a fee) and from eTA / ETIAS-style electronic travel authorisations (mandatory for many passports entering the UK, USA, Canada, and — from 2026 — the Schengen Area).