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No visa required

economist.com

11–20 of 81 posts

Re: No visa required

#11
It's almost impossible for someone with a decent job in Afghanistan (or a similar country) to get a tourist visa to the US or to Europe. The first problem is to afford the flight ticket. The second an more important problem is to get a tourist visa. They always assume you want to stay and work.

Re: No visa required

#13
I wish we could go further than this. During the UK elections, I hated hearing the anti-immigration rhetoric from all sides. Where is the party offering more free movement of people?

We employ people from all corners of the globe here in the UK and hate the visa hurdles. We opened our US subsidiary in February and had to jump through all kinds of hurdles and pay lots of legal fees to set up a company that already employs 6 Americans.

I think if there was a way of limiting social benefits until you had proved you planned to contribute then unlimited economic migration would greatly help entrepreneurship.

Re: No visa required

#14
post #10

There's a couple of things that surprise me. First, all the countries in the Schengen treaty I think end up with the same score. Indeed France, Germany and Italy do. I would imagine many more do too (e.g. Spain). It seemed like it would have been a better label. On the other hand I am surprised that Denmark got more.. .and it is kind of a counterexample to my first point. Isn't Denmark in the Schengen treaty too? Whe…

I don't think there's anything stopping Schengen countries negotiating better travel conditions for their citizens. It's the Visa situation for travelling to visit the entire Schengen area that's homogenised. Working visas etc. are yet another matter.

Re: No visa required

#16
I'd be interested to see the converse as well - the countries that let the most other countries' citizens in without passports.

Re: No visa required

#17
post #4

This is a rare occasion - Britain at the top of a chart that's measuring something good! I suspect the scope and influence of the empire might be what just pushes us over the top, though I guess that doesn't explain Denmark too well.

I'd also suspect that another reason is that immigration from Britain was never really an issue anywhere at any point in the history, so there was no reason to limit travel rights of British persons. After all, it was always a modern, industrialized country with English-speaking population, and mostly white (which unfortunately mattered in less enlightened times, not even too long ago).

[deleted]

Re: No visa required

#18
post #8

I remember when I first crossed German-French border without even a passport check. There was just a flag post. That was a great moment. Anyway, I wonder how Switzerland would rate on this list!

Switzerland has 156 countries (rank 10)

The full list is at http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/

Re: No visa required

#19

I wish we could go further than this. During the UK elections, I hated hearing the anti-immigration rhetoric from all sides. Where is the party offering more free movement of people? We employ people from all corners of the globe here in the UK and hate the visa hurdles. We opened our US subsidiary in February and had to jump through all kinds of hurdles and pay lots of legal fees to set up a company that already emp…

People throughout the political spectrum conflate legal and illegal immigrants for their own agendas. But they are two entirely disparate groups.

I think if there was a way of limiting social benefits until you had proved you planned to contribute

That should apply to "locals" as well!

Re: No visa required

#20
post #18
post #8

I remember when I first crossed German-French border without even a passport check. There was just a flag post. That was a great moment. Anyway, I wonder how Switzerland would rate on this list!

Switzerland has 156 countries (rank 10) The full list is at http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/

Switzerland is fairly obnoxious towards immigrants tho' (e.g. it is pretty much impossible to naturalize as Swiss). It should be rights be difficult for Swiss to travel anywhere. I expect their private banking industry is what opens the doors...
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