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Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

passportindex.org

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Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#21

Post by bane »

kudu wrote: post #12

There are some important considerations here that haven't been taken into account. For example, the United States is the only major country in the world that taxes non-resident citizens on their worldwide income, which makes it one of the most inconvenient passports to hold. Additionally, holding an EU passport allows one to work, study, etc. in any EU country, rather than simply visit it.

If you think of the US as a more federated version of the EU, you don't even need a passport to relocate within the US.

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#22

Post by snitko »

pinaceae wrote: post #17
snitko wrote: post #13

It is an absolute disgrace that people are limited in their ability to travel where they want to simply because they happened to be born in a certain place. If you look at that and don't see how this is basically a prison system, you are just endlessly ignorant.

visa restrictions into the US and EU exist to protect their own population, as voted and decided upon by their democratic systems. the world is a bit more complicated than your comment implies.

Yes. Many things in the world exist because the majority thinks it's a good idea. Doesn't mean it is. 200 years ago the majority thought slavery was ok. I'm still yet to see anyone who'd convince me why is it that I need to get a permission from a bureaucrat just to see my friend, when my friend doesn't approve of that policy and never voted for anything like that to be instituted.

Me not visiting my friend more often doesn't protect a single soul. All the while, criminals with legalized money buy residencies and citizenship left and right. Tell me more about how that protects anyone even remotely.

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#24

Post by maxerickson »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #14

The information onthat site seems wrong. Austria's passport has visa free access to more than 170 countries and there are passports that have more than that. Yet it shows the UK with less than 150.

Something is wrong with the site. I'm fairly certain that when I first viewed the US and UK it said 174 (only fairly certain because I am prone to flipping digits and the second time it said 147). Now it doesn't show any number for the US.

Edit: and now it does show 147 again. If I remember correctly, other entries also lost ~30 from their totals.

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#25

Post by joosters »

bane wrote: post #23

I've always thought this kind of comparison wasn't as meaningful as "how many square km of the planet does your passport grant you access to? Countries vary in size too much.

How is that more meaningful, unless you value every square kilometer of Siberia, for instance?

Or you could argue that having access to all of the seas without a passport means that the per-km2 value of a passport is actually relatively small? :)

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#26

Post by snitko »

pinaceae wrote: post #17
snitko wrote: post #13

It is an absolute disgrace that people are limited in their ability to travel where they want to simply because they happened to be born in a certain place. If you look at that and don't see how this is basically a prison system, you are just endlessly ignorant.

visa restrictions into the US and EU exist to protect their own population, as voted and decided upon by their democratic systems. the world is a bit more complicated than your comment implies.

I will tell you exactly how the world works. You have poor people in poor countries working crazy hours in slave-like conditions. Then the rich countries and businesses come out and say "oh, but they are better off because at least thanks to our money they have jobs". And western consumers get cheap products and then get to bitch about minimum wage and equality.

If you really cared for equality, you'd open borders for the poor people to come and compete in a truly open and free market. Otherwise it's all just hypocrisy and exploitation.

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#28

Post by seanmcdirmid »

bluerobotcat wrote: post #20

The number of countries that you can enter without a visa might not be the best metric. For example, if you have a US or Signapore passport, you might be able to enter a lot of countries without a visa, but Brazil is not one of them. Brazil is obviously a hugely important country, so that seems like a notable disadvantage. EU citizens can enter Brazil without a visa. Additionally, there are several countries that hav…

China, Russia, India, Indonesia (With VOA) also require visas for Americans, often with retaliatory fees for the visa (they charge us what we charge them). I was surprised that I need a visa to go to austrailia, out of all places, though at least we can do it online...

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#29

Post by joosters »

Is there a way to get any information beyond the magic numbers on that site? e.g. a US passport allows entry to 147 countries, but can I list which ones? Or which ones it doesn't allow access to? Or what the difference is between two passports?

Another possible index would be a reverse lookup per-country, showing how many other countries can visit it without a visa. Something like a 'country freedom index' or somesuch.

Re: Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?

#30

Post by pinaceae »

snitko wrote: post #22
pinaceae wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

visa restrictions into the US and EU exist to protect their own population, as voted and decided upon by their democratic systems. the world is a bit more complicated than your comment implies.

Yes. Many things in the world exist because the majority thinks it's a good idea. Doesn't mean it is. 200 years ago the majority thought slavery was ok. I'm still yet to see anyone who'd convince me why is it that I need to get a permission from a bureaucrat just to see my friend, when my friend doesn't approve of that policy and never voted for anything like that to be instituted. Me not visiting my friend more ofte…

laws exist to cover for the majority of use cases, not individual, well reasoned exceptions. start with hammurabi and read on, the worl of bureaucracy has a lot more background and sense than you imagine.
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