No visa required

http://www.economist.com/node/16885221

by mfukar • 16 years ago

91 76 16 years ago

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.

DrJokepu• 16 years ago

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).

chris_l• 16 years ago

They had some problems of that nature, as an example in India starting in the 17th century and ending 1947. Other examples can be found readily :)

sdurkin• 16 years ago

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.

tomjen33• 16 years ago

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.

nir• 16 years ago

Denmark went evil?? What did you do?

felxh• 16 years ago

The website with the original data is quite confusing, but as far as I understand the UK is only number one since this year. In 2008 and 2009 it was still number 6.

Initially I also thought it must have to do with the empire/commonwealth, but this makes it seem less likely. And yes, why Denmark? It was number one since 2006!

kjhgfgbhnj3• 16 years ago

And this is only number of countries - it doesn't weight them by importance. So being able to travel to a dozen tiny Caribbean islands offsets not being abke to go visa free to India or china.

Also visa free doesn't mean much - europeans can go to the US without a Visa, you just need to register online in advance, provide all your details and have the airline supply the details of all the other flights you take, your credit card numbers and what kind of meal you had - but no actual visa

ciupicri2• 16 years ago

Not all Europeans can go to the US without a Visa. Romanians stills have to apply for a visa and I think that Bulgarians too.

scrrr• 16 years ago

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!

cl3m• 16 years ago

Switzerland has 156 countries (rank 10)

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

gaius2• 16 years ago

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...

DirtyAndy• 16 years ago

Was that back in 39?

davidw• 16 years ago

I think if I ever tried to get Italian citizenship in addition to US, it might be to get a passport that would let me go some places more unobtrusively. Not that I'm much of a traveler though... so it's not high on my list.

escoz• 16 years ago

I received my italian citizenship a few weeks ago, still need to go tet the passport :)

nanairo• 16 years ago

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? Where else can they go than Germany/French/Italians can't?

pmjordan• 16 years ago

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.

tomjen33• 16 years ago

Denmark is a member of Schengen, but we also have deals with Sweden and Norway that doesn't even require passports to get there, and I don't imagine I would need a passport to go visit Iceland either.

maneesh2• 16 years ago

denmark, sweden, norway, and iceland are all members of the schengen...

nerfhammer2• 16 years ago

Don't forget Greenland or the Faroe Islands

henrikschroder2• 16 years ago

It's a measurement of how likely it is that a citizen in a country want to become an illegal immigrant elsewhere. The small, "nice", western european welfare states have always scored very high on this for a long time.

thingie• 16 years ago

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.)

tfh• 16 years ago

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.

sivers• 16 years ago

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/

elai2• 16 years ago

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

garply• 16 years ago

As an American in China, you have no idea how many times I've envied the Singaporeans. China goes out of its way to gouge Americans for visas - a visa costs about $150 for us, maybe $30 for a Canadian or European.

I'm told visas are about equally expensive for Chinese entering the US (although the US does a much more thorough background check to ensure the Chinese person has consistently had a good job with regular income), so I guess the feeling between the 2 governments is mutual.

The visas for foreigners here are also of relatively low quality - they have a short duration. And the rules about what a person can obtain are constantly changing. I've spent so much time, effort, and money dealing with visa issues, I've really contemplated marrying my Chinese girlfriend. We're not really ready to get married from a relationship perspective, but we're both pragmatists and it would save us money and headaches.

xiaoma• 16 years ago

Yeah, tell me about it. I spent a small fortune on my multiple entry L visa in HK, and it was only good for a month at a time-- not quite enough time to get my long term residence visa. Worse yet, getting a simple extension while the paperwork goes through is more expensive than just hopping on a train and leaving the country only to re-enter it again. What a waste of my time, of space on the train and of fuel. And for what?

will_critchlow• 16 years ago

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.

gaius2• 16 years ago

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!

Sukotto• 16 years ago

Does anyone know where I can get the raw data they used to generate this? (Preferably in a format I can slice and dice programmaticly)

pwim• 16 years ago

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

subbu2• 16 years ago

It'd be even more interesting to see these 2 plotted next to each other. Countries you can go to without a visa V/s Citizens of countries that you let in without a visa.

johnndege• 16 years ago

Its great that Britons can travel the world hassle free - must be the remnants of the empire. However, what really matters to people is the opportunity to work and live in a foreign country. I am a Briton living in the US and the difficulty it takes to come to the US is astounding. I had a relatively easy ride but for some the road is long.

mortenjorck2• 16 years ago

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.

noodle2• 16 years ago

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.

mortenjorck2• 16 years ago

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 form to declare that I have nothing to declare, and answering random identity-verifying questions from an immigration officer. I feel tired and uncomfortable just thinking about it.

arethuza• 16 years ago

For a country that generally does a great job of customer service the experience you get as a foreigner entering the place is awful.

nwomack• 16 years ago

I have to agree with this. Landing in the US on an international flight is always the worst part of the trip.

1. Taking so long to get my bags, then getting them re-scanned, that I miss/almost miss the connector

and/or

2. answering 20 questions to the customs officer

_delirium2• 16 years ago

I've had part 2 vary a lot, from being interrogated by a suspicious customs officer, to being asked one or two half-assed questions by a very bored one.

buro92• 16 years ago

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.

kristiandupont• 16 years ago

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?

c4urself2• 16 years ago

so true and that's the USC/Permanent resident line, how about that visitors line...

rdtsc4• 16 years ago

That actually varies as well. Typically one would expect the USC line to always go much faster, and it usually does, but sometime a flight is just full of USC/PR passangers and not many visitors, so you get the opposite effect (happened to me twice).

Also now they fingerprint and photograph permanent residents. So what used to be "Hello!" + 2 questions now is "Hello!" + 5 questions + fingerprinting + photographing.

But, hey we all feel safer, right !?

ramki• 16 years ago

damn, why Denmark?? quite surprising...

jrockway• 16 years ago

You're surprised that people from a rich European country can travel with relatively little hassle?

I'm surprised that you're surprised.

subbu2• 16 years ago

They are white and they are rich as with most other top ranked countries on that list.

henrikschroder2• 16 years ago

If you check the actual tables you'll see that a lot of countries share the same spots, that graph was just a selection of countries.

blizkreeg• 16 years ago

As an Indian, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at India's place in that chart.

seldo• 16 years ago

I was hoping this was going to be a measure of how easy it was to obtain a work visa in these countries, in which case I would expect the US to rank near the bottom...

c4urself2• 16 years ago

it's not only the countries you travel visa-free to, it's also how they treat you once you're there... i once traveled through italy with an american friend and was surprised at the hassle they made of the border crossing of a nighttrain simply due to his passport... i was able to sleep on and he had to answer questions this was back in 2000. at the same time consider countries like syria where an american passport might not be as nice as an EU one.

rizal• 16 years ago

Malaysia is right up there! I am Malaysian and I am surprised. In 1993 I had to apply for a visa to visit France, which gave me the impression that it's difficult for Malaysians to travel. (I've only been to China since then.)

No visa required

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