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What is a passport mobility score?

You have probably seen a headline like "this passport gets you into 130 countries." That number has a name, and a precise recipe. Here is how it actually works.

The short version

A passport's mobility score is the number of destinations you can enter without arranging a visa in advance. It adds up three categories:

Visa-free, you just show up with your passport.
Visa on arrival, you get the visa at the border when you land.
ETA, an Electronic Travel Authorisation, a quick online approval before you fly.

Add those three together and you have the score. A passport that reaches, say, 32 destinations this way has a mobility score of 32.

What it deliberately leaves out

The mobility score does not count e-visas. An e-visa is issued online before you travel, so there is no embassy queue, but you still have to apply, pay, and wait for approval. Because it takes advance effort, it is counted as a visa you need, not as free movement.

This matters because including e-visas can roughly double the headline number. If you see a much larger figure for the same passport elsewhere, it is usually counting e-visas too. Both numbers can be "correct", they are just measuring different things. Journara shows you the conservative mobility-score figure, and lists e-visa destinations separately so you can see the full picture.

Why two sources can disagree

Visa rules change constantly, and different datasets are refreshed on different schedules. A live index updated this week and an open dataset last refreshed months ago can show different numbers for the same passport. That is normal. Whatever the source, the golden rule holds: always confirm with the embassy or the official portal before you book.

Before you travel

Wherever your mobility score takes you, many visas (Schengen among them) require proof of travel insurance. Sorting cover early is one less thing to scramble for at the airport.