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Passport Index 2016

passportindex.org

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Re: Passport Index 2016

#121

Post by mthoms »

parent5446 wrote: post #112
mthoms wrote: post #111

No mention yet of the very best passport to have - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_laissez-passer (It's baby blue of course) It's kind of neat to see them in the wild.

Curious, why is it the best passport to have?

You get to bypass the regular folk and use the diplomatic lane for processing. Holders don't require Visas in many countries and some versions of the passport carry diplomatic privileges (including immunity).

I'm sure there are other perks akin to having a diplomatic passport from whereveristan, but with the added weight that it's issued by the UN.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#122

Post by stepanhruda »

sevenless wrote: post #42

Is there a guide to multiple citizenship power leveling anywhere? Edit: A bit of munging from the web page later... For Americans and British/Western Europe, the passports you want are Burkina Faso, Benin and Senegal. They will bring your passport power level up by 13 points to 168 (American) and 170 (UK) and give you visa free access to Cote Divoire (Ivory Coast), Mali, Iran, Congo, Niger, Benin, Nigeria, Liberia, C…

The guide you posted is a bit dated – Czech Republic recognizes dual citizenship since 2014 and the guide doesn't say so (I know this because I'm hopefully getting a second citizenship in a year or so).

Re: Passport Index 2016

#124

Post by DanBC »

mthoms wrote: post #121
parent5446 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, why is it the best passport to have?

You get to bypass the regular folk and use the diplomatic lane for processing. Holders don't require Visas in many countries and some versions of the passport carry diplomatic privileges (including immunity). I'm sure there are other perks akin to having a diplomatic passport from whereveristan, but with the added weight that it's issued by the UN.

The link you provided doesn't say that though.

> Most countries do not accept a UNLP as a travel document, unless a visa has been added.

and most people with the blue passport don't get diplomatic immunity - that's limited to a few people with the right visas and the red version.

> Most officials hold a blue UNLP (up to D-1 level), which is similar in legal status to a service passport (however, diplomatic status may be conferred on the holder if the visa issued in the UNLP is a diplomatic visa). A red UNLP is issued to particularly high officials (D-2 and above), and depending on their rank, this may confer diplomatic privileges and the red UNLP may therefore be similar to a diplomatic passport.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#125

Post by akie »

rwmj wrote: post #65
tuna-piano wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often thought of the dollar value of my US passport (/citizenship). It would definitely be my most valuable asset (then again, taxes are by far my biggest expense). Besides almost unrestricted travel - my income is far higher in the US than it would be in any other country I've looked at. It's easy to forget how lucky those of us in the developed world are and how so many try so hard to gain status here. Good lu…

This is why I think the European Union should be more like an actual union. You should be able to subscribe to it, and your membership would grant you a passport, rights and duties. It would solve the whole Brexit issue, because everyone who wanted to remain a member could do so. It wouldn't even be that expensive - we pay about £185/year each at the moment to be in the EU (£13bn/70m people). Edit: Obviously this is…

I'm sorry, but that doesn't work. Membership of the EU (or at least the common market) needs common laws to work, and these only work at the national level, not at the personal level...

Re: Passport Index 2016

#126

Post by microcolonel »

rwmj wrote: post #65
tuna-piano wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often thought of the dollar value of my US passport (/citizenship). It would definitely be my most valuable asset (then again, taxes are by far my biggest expense). Besides almost unrestricted travel - my income is far higher in the US than it would be in any other country I've looked at. It's easy to forget how lucky those of us in the developed world are and how so many try so hard to gain status here. Good lu…

This is why I think the European Union should be more like an actual union. You should be able to subscribe to it, and your membership would grant you a passport, rights and duties. It would solve the whole Brexit issue, because everyone who wanted to remain a member could do so. It wouldn't even be that expensive - we pay about £185/year each at the moment to be in the EU (£13bn/70m people). Edit: Obviously this is…

I've seen you post this at least five times now. Next time you're on your comments page to copy it again, read what people said about it all of the other times you posted it.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#127

Post by Aloha »

tormeh wrote: post #110
noobermin wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This clearly doesn't apply the United States then, who's culture is swallowing up immigrants and adding their influences to our melting pot.

Depends which Americans you ask. Try asking old, white and rural people about this and you might get a surprising answer. There is a disagreement about what America is and what's un-American and foreign.

if you asked those same old white and rural people a century ago.. well wait - they would have largely been freshly immigrated from Scandenavia or Germany.

This divide has existed as long as the united states has existed - and it will exist as long as there is immigration - this pressure exists to ensure that too much immigration doesnt happen, and that the melting pot can keep up.

That said, we're the only country in the world where being an 'real member of the country' largely means some legal gobbily-gook and deciding that you wish to ascribe to some somewhat nebulous american ideals.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#129

Post by nbaksalyar »

hal9000xp wrote: post #28

I had citizenship of one most repressive and poor countries in the world - Uzbekistan. Later I obtained Russian citizenship. Now, I'm living in the Netherlands and plan to obtain citizenship of some first world country (NL, SG etc). So I have first hand experience to live with Uzbek passport and being practically completely isolated from the first world (nobody give you EU tourist visa if you have Uzbek passport and…

I can relate. I was a citizen of Turkmenistan, which is even more opressive than Uzbekistan. It's one of the most closed countries in the world on par with North Korea (or worse). If you're interested, you can read a good travel report from a Russian blogger (translated into English) [0].

So yeah, I totally agree that citizenship/passport of a free (or relatively free) country can be one of the greatest assets that you can have in your life.

[0] http://varlamov.ru/1740845.html

Re: Passport Index 2016

#130

Post by Aloha »

wildmusings wrote: post #116
tormeh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends which Americans you ask. Try asking old, white and rural people about this and you might get a surprising answer. There is a disagreement about what America is and what's un-American and foreign.

I'm the son of Cuban immigrants and I think that immigration levels are much too high right now, of populations that are a mismatch for our economic needs (lots of low-skill workers, but we have a tragic surplus of low-skill labor), into a system that doesn't encourage integration (welfare state and identity politics), and sometimes from cultures that don't share our values.

I think anyone who wants to come to this country to become one of us should be able to, provided they;

Can pass the citizenship test.

Can speak english at a conversational or better level.

Can afford a more than nominal sum for a visa (1500-5000 dollars).

Can pass a criminal history check of some sort.

Doing so would get you a 5 year work visa, after the expiration of that, you could renew it again, and after that, you must either formally file for citizenship (and then agree to remain here for 5 years after other than short visits home) or go back home for at least 5 years when you can start the process over again.

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