WorldRisk

Which passport do you hold?

Risk to a traveller depends on their nationality. A country that sanctions your destination, or is sanctioned by it, changes how you are treated on arrival. Choosing here adjusts every score on the site.

We hold travel advice written for four nationalities so far. Selecting anything else shows the neutral baseline, and every page says so where it applies rather than presenting it as an assessment made for you.

Kept in your browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere, and you can change it at any time from the header.

All countries

Iraq

57High57 of 100, High band, 50 to 74good confidence(7/7 dimensions)
What this score means
Extreme75 to 100
Severe and systematic. Device search, interception and detention over online activity are documented rather than theoretical. Reconsider what you carry and what you say.
High50 to 74
Substantial and consistently evidenced measures. Device inspection, monitored networks or restricted services should be expected rather than treated as unlikely.
Caution25 to 49
Some risk, and manageable with precautions. Measures are evidenced but are narrow, inconsistently applied, or the picture is mixed.
Low0 to 24
Ordinary precautions. No systematic device search, network restriction or prosecution of visitors for online speech is evidenced.

Government travel advice is written for one citizenry, so the same country carries a different assessment depending on your passport. Change it in the header.

Showing the baseline, which weights every issuer equally. No government in our corpus publishes travel advice written for you, so this is not addressed to you specifically.

Dimensions

Each dimension is scored independently, because the traveller who cares about legal exposure for what they have posted is often not the one carrying client data. Higher means more risk.

Border device risk

How likely is my device to be searched, imaged, or seized at the border, and can I be compelled to unlock it?

71High71 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence5 independent sources

No reports were found of devices being searched, imaged or seized at this border, or of travellers being compelled to unlock them. The score below is drawn from general indicators for this country rather than from anything observed about this risk, so it describes an absence of reports rather than evidence that the risk is absent.

What the score rests on (5 indirect sources)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Connectivity continuity

How likely am I to lose access to the internet, or to the specific tools I depend on?

66High66 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence9 independent sources

Why this score (52 sources)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

2 excluded sources
  • Middle East Eye, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-01-09: aged out after 3 years.
  • SMEX, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-02-28: aged out after 3 years.

Speech and legal exposure

What legal risk attaches to what I have said online, or say while I am there?

63High63 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence8 independent sources

Why this score (11 sources)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Surveillance and interception

How comprehensively are communications intercepted, retained, and monitored, and is commercial spyware in use?

58High58 of 100, High band, 50 to 74

good confidence5 independent sources

Why this score (6 sources)

  • Freedom House 2026 scored IRQ 1 of 4 on freedom to express personal views on sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution.

    Freedom House, Freedom in the World · observed 2026-01-01

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored IRQ 1.86 of 4 on how comprehensively the government monitors social media and private online communication, where higher is freer.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored IRQ 2.52 of 4 on how far privacy protection law shields communications from government access, where higher is freer. This measures what privacy law permits rather than what monitoring is practised, so it is read here as a constraint on interception rather than a measurement of it.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • We, the undersigned human rights organisations, strongly condemn the Iraqi authorities’ continued use of the Balgh platform to monitor online speech and curtail freedom of expression.

    SMEX, via a site scoped search · observed 2025-01-17 · extracted by language model

  • New evidence suggests that the company, Intellexa, is also currently being deployed in Iraq, according to the report from Recorded Future’s Insikt Group.

    The Record feed · observed 2025-12-04 · extracted by language model

  • The freedom of communication and correspondence, postal, telegraphic, electronic, and telephonic, shall be guaranteed and may not be monitored, wiretapped, or disclosed except for legal and security necessity and by a judicial decision.

    Comparative Constitutions Project · observed 2026-10-16 · extracted by language model

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Encryption and VPN legality

Are VPNs and strong encryption lawful, and can I be required to install an application or hand over keys?

48Caution48 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence3 independent sources

Why this score (3 sources)

  • V-Dem Digital Society Project 2025 scored IRQ 2.28 of 4 on whether the government regulates the internet in a way consistent with international human rights standards, where higher is freer. This does not establish whether encryption or VPN use is lawful. It measures internet regulation in general, and is used as indirect evidence because the only survey that reads encryption law directly was published in 2019.

    V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project · observed 2025-12-31

  • OONI recorded no confirmed blocking across 30,254 measurements of anonymity and censorship circumvention tools in IRQ over the 90 days to 2026-10-16, with 1,509 further results inconclusive.

    Open Observatory of Network Interference, OONI measurement data · observed 2026-10-16

  • Die Nutzung eines VPN-Netzwerks ist verboten.

    Our translation: VPN use is prohibited.

    Auswärtiges Amt, Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise · observed 2026-10-16 · written for DEU nationals · extracted by language model

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Network threat

How hostile is the network environment to a foreign visitor, from state actors and criminals alike?

46Caution46 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

good confidence3 independent sourcesEvidence is ageing: contributing sources are weighted at 66% of full strength.

Why this score (3 sources)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

1 excluded source
  • SMEX, via a site scoped search, observed 2024-05-15: aged out after 2 years.

Data jurisdiction

What happens to corporate or client data I carry into the jurisdiction?

39Caution39 of 100, Caution band, 25 to 49

moderate confidence1 independent source

Why this score (1 source)

Report an inaccuracy (corrections need a link to the reporting, statute or research that shows it).

Trend

02550751002026-08-162026-10-16

The overall score is up 4.7 points over 61 days, from 51.9 to 56.6. Most movement is the event overlay decaying rather than anything happening: a news signal loses half its weight every three weeks, so a score drifts back toward its structural baseline on its own. A step that holds is the one worth reading.

Check this yourself

These are not inputs to the score for Iraq. They are where to look if you want to test what is above against something we did not use.

Sources

This assessment draws on 15 sources: Auswärtiges Amt, Reise- und Sicherheitshinweise; CIVICUS Monitor country updates; Comparative Constitutions Project; Freedom House, Freedom in the World; Freedom House, Freedom on the Net, obstacles to access; Georgia Tech Internet Intelligence Lab, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis; Global Affairs Canada, Travel advice and advisories; International Telecommunication Union, Global Cybersecurity Index; Multiple, via Google News, Google News search results; Open Observatory of Network Interference, OONI measurement data; SMEX, via a site scoped search; The Record feed; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Foreign travel advice; US Department of State, Travel Advisories; V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg, Digital Society Project. Every contributing claim is quoted with its origin and date above. Model version 0.12.0, computed 2026-10-16.

If something here is wrong, say so. Corrections are handled in public, and we correct because the evidence is wrong, not because someone objects.