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Rarest Passport In The World Has Only Three Copies In Existence

Rarest Passport In The World Has Only Three Copies In Existence

When it comes to obscure passports, this one surely takes the crown.

Anonymous

Anonymous

We all know how much of a pain in the arse it can be to get our hands on a new passport.

However, if you thought the standard ordeal of waiting six weeks, having your photo refused three times because your eyebrow was raised slightly and then having to shell out an additional £100 to fast track it so that you don't miss your holiday was bad enough, try this on for size.

In order to get your hands on the world's rarest and most obscure passport, you'll have to become either the grand master, deputy grand master, or chancellor of the Catholic order.

That queue at the express passport office doesn't seem so bad now, does it?

The passport for the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is so rare that there are only ever three copies in existence at any one time, and they all belong to each of the three highest-ranking officers of the Catholic order.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta was officially recognised by Pope Paschal in 1113 and is one of the oldest institutions in the Christian world.

Today this Catholic order operates as a charitable organisation offering medical aid across the world and has 80,000 permanent volunteers, 25,000 employees and more than 13,500 knights, dames and chaplins.

However, as rare and exclusive as it is, this special passport won't get you very far when it actually comes to getting into other territories and is not accepted in the United Kingdom or the United States, along with many other countries.

In total, it is accepted in 105 different countries.

To put that into perspective, British passports currently allow holders to move freely within 173 countries, without the need for a visa.

Germany has the strongest passport, allowing holders into 176 countries, visa-free.

When it comes to the least powerful passports, Afghanistan is at the bottom of the table with visa-free access to just 25 countries.

Credit: Henley and Partners

Every year there is a ranking of global passports measuring nations based on how many countries their citizens can travel to visa-free.

"There is still huge disparity in the levels of travel freedom between countries, despite the world becoming seemingly more mobile and interdependent," says Dr. Christian H. Kälin, Chairman of Henley & Partners, the company responsible for publishing the annual ranking.

"Generally, visa requirements are a reflection of a country's relationship with others, and take into account diplomatic relationships between countries, reciprocal visa arrangements, security risks, and the dangers of visa and immigration regulation violations."

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