There is a peculiar irony in the story of Bangladesh’s progress. A nation that has climbed to become the 35th largest economy in the world, still finds its citizens stranded at the bottom of the world’s mobility ladder.
The economy has outpaced several developing nations, yet the passport that represents the face of this economic success remains among the weakest in the world.
The latest Henley Passport Index, released in October 2025, captures this paradox sharply. Bangladesh has slipped to the 100th position -- its lowest in years -- sharing the spot with a country like North Korea, whose isolation is legendary.
The Bangladeshi passport now grants visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to only 38 out of 227 destinations worldwide. That number has been steadily shrinking: 42 destinations in 2024, 41 in 2023, and 68 in 2006. The trajectory tells a story not just of declining travel freedom, but of deepening distrust in the Bangladeshi identity abroad.
The situation becomes more striking when placed in comparative context. Bangladesh’s GDP is larger than that of Malaysia, yet Malaysia ranks 12th in the passport index.
A passport, by definition, is a marker of identity and trust. It tells the world not only where one belongs but also how the world perceives that belonging. The decline of Bangladesh’s passport reveals a fracture between its economic achievements and its institutional credibility.
For all the GDP figures, export statistics, and remittance inflows that policymakers love to cite, the global community still measures Bangladesh by its people’s reputation rather than its macroeconomic charts.
That reputation has taken a bruising over time. Across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, stories of visa overstay, illegal migration, and forged documents involving Bangladeshis have become recurring headlines. Nations that once welcomed Bangladeshi travelers are now tightening entry conditions. Vietnam, for instance, halted visa issuance for Bangladeshis in early 2025 after a surge in cases of overstaying and illegal employment.
Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have imposed new scrutiny measures, while the United Arab Emirates quietly suspended most visa categories for Bangladeshis last year. Each such policy action, however isolated it seems, collectively erodes the global trust that determines a passport’s strength.
What is even more alarming is that the issue is no longer only bureaucratic or procedural -- it is psychological. When a Bangladeshi passport holder queues at an airport immigration counter, they carry with them not only a booklet of green and gold but the burden of global suspicion.
That suspicion has been built over years of scattered incidents that now define an entire population in the eyes of foreign authorities. The dishonesty of a few has stained the mobility of millions.
Yet, to attribute the crisis entirely to individual behaviour would be simplistic. The issue is structural. Bangladesh’s passport weakness reflects deeper fractures in governance, diplomacy, and domestic opportunity.
A country where unemployment remains chronically high and job creation is stagnant naturally drives its youth to seek opportunities abroad. When legal pathways narrow or become too costly, irregular migration becomes a desperate alternative. Every overloaded boat on the Mediterranean or undocumented worker abroad becomes another nail in the coffin of the Bangladeshi passport’s credibility.
The government’s response has often been administrative rather than strategic. Over the years, new electronic and biometric passports have been introduced, but the strength of a passport is never in its technology. It lies in the reputation of the state and the conduct of its citizens.
Global acceptance cannot be engineered through glossy cover designs or diplomatic slogans; it must be earned through consistent governance, transparency, and international goodwill.
Bangladesh’s economic rise should have logically improved its global stature. Instead, the opposite seems to be happening. The International Monetary Fund recognizes Bangladesh as one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, yet its citizens face growing travel barriers.
This disconnect points to an uncomfortable truth: Economic growth without institutional integrity produces wealth without respect. The GDP figures might impress investors, but they do not influence immigration officers. The passport index measures something that balance sheets cannot -- trustworthiness, legality, and civic culture.
The comparison with neighbouring countries is equally revealing. India, ranked 85th, has made strategic use of its diplomatic relations and global influence to expand its citizens’ travel freedom.
There is also a glaring lack of diplomatic assertiveness in addressing the issue. When countries suspend visas or impose restrictions, Bangladesh’s foreign missions often respond with silence or procedural negotiation rather than strategic engagement.
There is little public effort to repair trust or explain national improvements in governance and migration control. Diplomacy, at its core, is about perception management -- and Bangladesh has ceded too much ground in that arena.
The crisis of passport credibility also mirrors a broader erosion of civic values. When corruption, deceit, and short-term opportunism become normalized within a society, their effects inevitably travel beyond borders.
Foreign governments do not just evaluate paperwork; they evaluate a nation’s behaviour. The cumulative consequence of fraudulent migration, fake documents, and false promises in foreign employment has turned Bangladesh’s passport into a symbol of uncertainty.
The irony
Bangladesh is a country that sustains its economy partly through remittances -- over 20bn annually -- sent by migrant workers abroad. These workers are both the backbone of the economy and the unintended victims of its reputation.
The honest suffer for the sins of the dishonest. Those who travel legally for work or study now face heightened scrutiny, longer processing times, and humiliating interrogations at foreign airports.
If this situation continues, the impact will be far-reaching. Weak passport power does not only inconvenience tourists; it also restricts students, entrepreneurs, medical patients, and researchers.
For a country aspiring to shed its LDC tag by 2026, such immobility is both an embarrassment and a hindrance.
Reputation, once lost, is difficult to reclaim. But it can be rebuilt through coordinated reforms. The first step is to address the domestic roots of desperation that push people toward illegal migration. Job creation, skill development, and fair recruitment systems are not only economic imperatives but also diplomatic ones. Every employed youth who stays home strengthens the country’s global image.
Secondly, Bangladesh must engage in reputation diplomacy. Just as it lobbies for trade deals and export access, it must negotiate for mobility rights. That requires demonstrating progress in migration management, law enforcement, and international cooperation.
Countries like the Philippines have turned their migrant labour policies into instruments of soft power. Bangladesh can learn from that model.
Finally, there must be a conscious effort to build civic integrity. The credibility of a passport mirrors the credibility of its holders. If citizens value honesty and accountability in their daily lives, the world will eventually recognize it in their travel documents. A nation cannot expect global respect when deceit becomes a survival tactic at home.
The story of Bangladesh’s passport is not merely about travel restrictions; it is about how a nation is seen by the world. The green cover embossed with the national emblem carries within it the sum of the country’s reputation -- its governance, its social fabric, its collective behaviour.
As Bangladesh prepares to graduate from the least developed category, it must realize that development is not only about economic figures but also about moral credibility. A country that aspires to be trusted must first become trustworthy.
HM Nazmul Alam is an academic, journalist, and political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Currently he is teaching at IUBAT. He can be reached at nazmulalam.rijohn@gmail.com.