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Passport Index 2016

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Re: Passport Index 2016

#211

Post by aravindet »

visarga wrote: post #140
aravindet wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"My own people". Clearly you use that phrase to mean people who share a nationality with you. Historically, this phrase has been used more often to refer to people with the same skin color, or religion, as you. You could use the exact words you used to justify systematic exclusion of people of another race or religion from jobs and markets controlled by "your people". I like to think that we’d all consider that appal…

We are all human, we deserve the same opportunities. But when mass migrations happen, they threaten the host country and also don't solve the problem back in the source country. The solution would be to make it better to live everywhere, so that people would not be so tempted to migrate. It will probably happen for Africa and Middle East in this century, as technology advances quickly.

And I assume a very similar argument was made in apartheid South Africa, or Jim Crow US.

“We are all human, we deserve the same opportunities. But when [black people move into white neighborhoods], they threaten [white neighborhoods] and also don't solve the problem back in [black neighborhoods]. The solution would be to make it better to live everywhere, so that people would not be so tempted to migrate. It will probably happen for [Cape Town and Johannesburg?] in this century, as technology advances quickly.”

Or, in other words, you propose the “separate but equal” solution.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#212

Post by barry-cotter »

sangnoir wrote: post #138
cloudjacker wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, they are called 'second passport' guides. assuming marriage is unfavorable and you don't want to pretend to be jewish, there are a couple of treaties you can take advantage of, typically old imperialist countries have guilt trips with their former south american or african colonies and have an easy citizenship path for citizens in those former colonies. But then those former colonies have really malleable gover…

> old imperialist countries have guilt trips with their former south american or african colonies and have an easy citizenship path for citizens in those former colonies haha, no - nothing about guilt. They only offer citizenship paths only to 3rd-/4th-generation descendants of emigrees. Allowing the natives of former colonies to easily gain citizenship in the old country is simply not tenable, old chap, they need to…

This is a lie in the Spanish case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_nationality_law#Spanis...

Re: Passport Index 2016

#213

Post by Tharkun »

mthoms wrote: post #169
DanBC wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What a bizarre thing to wish to argue nuances about. I just thought the passport was neat, had cachet and I really like the idea of being a "Citizen of Earth". I'm actually sorry I even mentioned it. But since you wish to be pedantic: I said that holders don't require Visas in many countries - According to the second paragraph of the Wiki link there are at least 29 countries. This qualifies as many . I also said "You…

I don't think that qualifies as 'many', if you want to be pedantic. My Belgian ID card (not even a passport!) gives me visaless and pasportless access to 50 countries..

But I agree, it would be a very near passport to have, and I wish there really was such a thing as a 'citizen of earth'-passport.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#214

Post by lucaspiller »

JonRB wrote: post #193
noobermin wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One other cute side note. It looks like all passports seem to span the colors of the rainbow!...save yellow. Gold seems to be the standard color of the type/designs, so I suppose yellow or orange[0] as backgrounds are out. Most have dignified, darker tones. Singapore and Switzerland have the brightest backgrounds of brilliant red while a few have pale but not over-saturated greens (Niger, Guinea, Saudi Arabia). Actua…

For what it's worth, I know that the British emergency passport is pretty close to yellow - It seems to look more beige on the internet than I remember it though.

I had one a couple of years ago and it was a warm-cream colour. Biggest rip off ever though - don't lose you passport while abroad!

Re: Passport Index 2016

#215

Post by Kliment »

inflagranti wrote: post #208
jmtulloss wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that doesn't really exclude them since Swedes and Norwegians are Germanic. After more research it seems that Finns are a distinct ethnic group though their origins are somewhat uncertain https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finn In any case, it's all pretty irrelevant to the site.

Definitely Finish as a language is completely unrelated to any Germanic language.

Grammatically you're right but due to the Baltic trade, the Swedish occupation and various other historical reasons there is a lot of Germanic vocabulary in Finnish etymology, though many words of Germanic origin are no longer recognizable. Estonian, a very closely related language, has kept some of those in an earlier form where they are more recognizably Germanic.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#216

Post by scottlocklin »

djsumdog wrote: post #175
nstj wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warren Buffett describes being born in the USA as having won "the ovarian lottery" which sounds about right, as you've described it. [0]: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-on-the-ovarian...

I know quite a few Australians/Kiwis who are able to obtain their British passports. Honestly I think that's worth way more than a US citizenship. They can work and live in any country in the EU, Australia and New Zealand, without a work visa (well for two more years anyway :-P).

They also don't have tax obligations for income earned abroad.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#217

Post by JimmyAustin »

xxxxxxxx wrote: post #196

Australia is such an unwelcoming country it's embarrassing. I suspect it's island mentality. At the airport we treat all arriving passengers as criminals - guilty of some terrible crime until cleared with a fully cavity search. To all our visitors - past, present and future - I apologise for our stupid bureaucracy and politicians. Once you get out of the airport things do get a little better.

I'm not sure how it is for non citizens, but for citizens its incredibly easy. Scan your passport, go to the facial recognition gate and you are through. If you have nothing to declare you can pick up your bags from the carousel and head on through.

The first time I went through the facial recognition it had issues recognising me and I had to queue for 10-15 minutes, but when I went through 2 years later (having been in a motorcycle accident 24 hours earlier with a smashed up face, beard and not having showered in 36 hours) it worked flawlessly.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#218

Post by kalleboo »

morgante wrote: post #206

It would be nice for this ranking to be expanded to include employment/work access beyond tourist visits. I'm working on acquiring an Italian passport not because it will allow me to enter more countries without a visa (an American passport is fine for that) but because it allows long-term working/residence in EU countries. Unfortunately, this ranking doesn't capture that dynamic.

It would be interesting to see what other countries have similar free working visa agreements. It may be hard to capture in a number - there's cases like Canadians getting a TN visa at the border to the US.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#219

Post by sanswork »

pandler wrote: post #210
sanswork wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly most countries are like this if you have to speak with customs. The US has been my worst experience and I use to cross into it frequently. At least with epassports these days I generally don't even have to talk to anyone when I arrive in Sydney except the guy that checks if you need to have the dogs sniff your bags.

> I generally don't even have to talk to anyone when I arrive in Sydney I always have to speak to a customs agent when traveling to Australia. My passport and all alternate photo ids are pre-big-bushy-beard, which throws the facial recognition kiosks for a loop. I made the mistake of trying to joke about it to the customs agent one time, and I remember her raising her eyebrows at me and calling over a supervisor. The…

How many borders is that not descriptive of though? The US border even fingerprints people now.

The closest I've come to not being treated like a criminal are borders in SEA where the agents only spoke a few words of English so they may have looked at me like I was a criminal but couldn't really say it in a way I would understand.

Re: Passport Index 2016

#220

Post by vacri »

girvo wrote: post #180
djsumdog wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know quite a few Australians/Kiwis who are able to obtain their British passports. Honestly I think that's worth way more than a US citizenship. They can work and live in any country in the EU, Australia and New Zealand, without a work visa (well for two more years anyway :-P).

I have dual Australia/New Zealand citizenship, and even that alone is well worth it. Brazil, for example, allows New Zealand passport holders to enter visa-free, but not Australians! https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=nz&p2...

There's not really that much difference between AU and NZ, though it is weird to see that PNG requires a visa for AU, given that AU gives PNG a chunk of aid money.
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