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No visa required

economist.com

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Re: No visa required

#61

Post by krschultz »

mambodog wrote: post #48
sdurkin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overpopulation was actually a major problem for Britain for most of its history, (hence the continent-sized penal colony in Australia.) It was just that British immigrants had the nasty habit of overthrowing the government in their new homes.

It was just that British immigrants had the nasty habit of overthrowing the government in their new homes. How many countries did that happen in?

If you count native populations as the local government, then basically every single colony England setup.

Re: No visa required

#62

Post by kristiandupont »

buro9 wrote: post #38
mortenjorck wrote: post #24

As a US citizen, it's wonderful getting into other countries with so little hassle. The only annoying part is getting back into the US.

Going to the US is so bad an experience that I now choose not to. If I have to go to North America I arrange for it to be in Canada, and if I don't have to go then London does just fine. I personally feel that the experience is that bad, and that I have a choice.

When are you in a situation where you "have to go to North America", but where it still makes sense to choose Canada instead of the US?

Re: No visa required

#63

Post by prototype56 »

mortenjorck wrote: post #36
noodle wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? i haven't had much of a problem (edit: or rather, not much more of a problem than the process required to enter in the other country). but i've also never had much to declare, either.

I haven't traveled that extensively, but every time I've entered a Schengen country with nothing to declare, I've been able to walk right in after getting my passport stamped. Every time I've returned to the US, however, I've had to go through an exhaustive baggage screening and pat-down before I could even board the plane, and then stand in line for half an hour in Immigration once I got back, filling out an entire…

Experience getting back into us after a vacation during financial meltdown of 2008-2009

Immigration "officer": Are you sure you still have your job at the bank.

Me: yes

Immigration "officer": If that turns out to be false we will kick you out like dogs

Re: No visa required

#64

Post by elai »

sivers wrote: post #12

Singapore is not shown, but is near the top, (150 countries vs Denmark's 157) and deserves special mention as the only passport that's visa-free for both US and China. http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/

If only it wasn't a single citizenship country :(

Re: No visa required

#65

Post by dedward »

kristiandupont wrote: post #62
buro9 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to the US is so bad an experience that I now choose not to. If I have to go to North America I arrange for it to be in Canada, and if I don't have to go then London does just fine. I personally feel that the experience is that bad, and that I have a choice.

When are you in a situation where you "have to go to North America", but where it still makes sense to choose Canada instead of the US?

Flights from central america to europe often have connecting flights in the US - and, unlike Canada and most of the rest of the world, the US requires people to pass through US Customs & Immigration to change airplanes.

In the rest of the world - you simply stay in the secure international area of the airport, and never have to deal with customs & immigration until you land in your destination.

Re: No visa required

#66

Post by elai »

mortenjorck wrote: post #36
noodle wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? i haven't had much of a problem (edit: or rather, not much more of a problem than the process required to enter in the other country). but i've also never had much to declare, either.

I haven't traveled that extensively, but every time I've entered a Schengen country with nothing to declare, I've been able to walk right in after getting my passport stamped. Every time I've returned to the US, however, I've had to go through an exhaustive baggage screening and pat-down before I could even board the plane, and then stand in line for half an hour in Immigration once I got back, filling out an entire…

China is similar. I had to act like I was entering the country and leaving right after just for a transfer flight/layover. They're the only place that detected the belt buckle and cared about shaving razors.

Re: No visa required

#67

Post by buro9 »

kristiandupont wrote: post #62
buro9 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going to the US is so bad an experience that I now choose not to. If I have to go to North America I arrange for it to be in Canada, and if I don't have to go then London does just fine. I personally feel that the experience is that bad, and that I have a choice.

When are you in a situation where you "have to go to North America", but where it still makes sense to choose Canada instead of the US?

When I have meetings with multiple NA-based people who are already spread out and already have to fly to one place.

We used to do Seattle, Chicago or NYC. Now we nearly always do Toronto, and occasionally Vancouver. No-one objects to my having set the location north of the border, and the Hong Kong attendee greatly prefers it too (for the same reason, though he has extra hassle at immigration).

Speaking of Toronto, there's a ridiculously good restaurant there. One worthy of saving up for months in advance... North 44. If you get the chance go.

Re: No visa required

#68

Post by Gormo »

dctoedt wrote: post #55
mambodog wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was just that British immigrants had the nasty habit of overthrowing the government in their new homes. How many countries did that happen in?

The U.S. itself. Indirectly, Texas and California. Rhodesia. Any others?

Bengal. If you count Texas and California, then Hawaii as well.

Of course, if you compare the British to other colonial powers, they also did a significant amount to preserve the local culture, even when assuming sovereign power from the local states.

Re: No visa required

#69

Post by thingie »

nanairo wrote: 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…

No. The Schengen treaty affects (maybe not that strictly) visa policies for the member states in the way that all the members are expected to have the same visa requirements (that's quite logical).

There are only some old EU15 members listed, but not a single country from the 2004 extension, nor Bulgaria and Romania. I live in the Czech republic, which has some kind of non-visa agreement with the USA (ESTA?), something much simpler and easier than regular visas, but you still need some kind of stamp. In fact, there was a discussion about this and how should be our EU membership leveraged in order to get a better position, but there weren't much of a agreement. I believe that old EU states (Great Britain first) weren't happy about the fact that there should be some common policy.

(Indeed, Schengen isn't equal to EU, it isn't even a subset of it, there are non-EU countries included, and some EU states aren't members (Great Britain). But there isn't any common policy, both EU and schengen-wide.)

Re: No visa required

#70

Post by nir »

tomjen3 wrote: post #5
petercooper wrote: post #2

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.

The only explanation I can come up with for Denmark is that we used to do a lot of humanitarian stuff back before we went evil, so there are a lot of countries that likes us.

Denmark went evil?? What did you do?
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