Canadian passport now outpaces U.S. in ranking of visa

OTTAWA — Canadian passport holders have overtaken Americans in terms of their visa-free access to the world.

The Henley Passport Index ranks Canada in 9th place for how many countries Canadian citizens can visit without needing to apply for a visa. The U.S. passport is in 12th place.

Both countries sat at 7th place under Henley’s ranking system, which groups together countries in blocs when they have visa-free access to the same number of countries.

Henley and Partners, which has issued the ranking for two decades, says the shift stems in part from countries imposing reciprocal requirements on American travellers in response to new U.S. visa restrictions or onerous entry requirements.

Unlike U.S. passport holders, Canadians can access Belarus, Papua New Guinea and Uzbekistan without a