A new study has ranked the Australian passport as one of the most expensive in the world as well as among the worst for travel value.
Millions of travel-hungry Australians have rushed to renew their passport after the Covid-19 pandemic slammed borders closed for two years.
Eager travellers will be asked to cough-up $308 for the travel document, with the option for priority processing costing an additional $225.
The tidy sum has made the Australian passport one of the most expensive in the world alongside its ranking as one of the worst for value.
It comes as those looking to renew their passport are hit with wait times of up to eight weeks after close to two million expired during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A new study has found the Australian passport is one of the most expensive in the world but among those with the ‘worst value’ (stock image)
Millions of travel-hungry Australians have rushed to renew their passport after the Covid-19 pandemic slammed borders closed for two years (pictured, passengers in Sydney in April)
Nearly 700,000 new passports have been reissued since last November with 400,000 of these handed over between January and March.
Travel booking website parksleepfly.com ranks the Australian passport as the fifth-worst in a list of 48 countries due to the cost and its ‘mobility rating’.
The passports were analysed on two factors, the cost of the actual document and the amount of countries that could be accessed with a visa.
The Australian passport was given a combined score of 2.56 with the document enabling travellers to access 103 countries without organising a visa.
At least two million Australian passports expired during the pandemic prompting nearly 700,000 new passports to be reissued since November (pictured, passengers in Sydney)
The United Arab Emirates topped the list despite holders only being able to access seven additional countries when compared with their Australian counterparts.
However, the passport only costs residents the equivalent of $18 and remains valid for five years, ultimately earning the nation the top slot.
Australia was joined by Canada, Chile, San Marino and Liechtenstein in the bottom five while Sweden, South Korea, Spain and Luxemburg scored in the top rankings.
In February, Australia’s international border reopened with passport holders only restricted from visiting 19 countries on the ‘do not travel’ list.
These destinations include Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Myanmar.
Official travel advice also deters Aussies from visiting Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and the Philippines due to impacts of Covid-19.
The overwhelming demand for passports has caused extreme wait times from anywhere from three to eight weeks (pictured, travellers wait in line LAX)
It comes after a global ranking saw Australia just scrape into a list of the top 10 of the most powerful passports.
The Henley Passport Index ranked all of the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holder can visit without a visa.
The report compares the visa-free access of 199 passports to 227 countries to identify which passports give their holder the most superior global connections.
The Australian passport has been ranked the seventh most powerful in the world, sharing its spot with Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece and Malta.
This means Aussies can holiday in 185 countries without organising a visa.
The Australian passport was recently ranked the seventh most powerful in the world, sharing its spot with Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece and Malta (pictured, Sydney passengers)
Japan and Singapore continue to hold the world’s most powerful passports, with their citizens having visa-free access to 192 countries.
The global ranking has also revealed Ukraine now ranks in 34th place with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 143, a ‘record high’ for the country.
Russia trails behind in 49th place, with a score of 117, falling from 46th place, which is held earlier this year before the invasion of Ukraine.
New Zealanders can travel visa-free to 186 countries – one more than Australians – and ranked sixth alongside Belgium, Norway, the United States and Switzerland.
Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the ranking with its nationals only able to access 26 destinations visa-free.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk