No visa required

[sivers]

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/

[garply]

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.

[elai]

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

[petercooper]

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]

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).

[kjhgfgbhnj]

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

[tomjen3]

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.

[felxh]

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!

[mortenjorck]

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.

[buro9]

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.

[nwomack]

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

[c4urself]

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

[noodle]

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.

[Sukotto]

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]

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

[subbu]

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.

[will_critchlow]

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.

[gaius]

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!

[davidw]

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]

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

[blizkreeg]

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

[nanairo]

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?

[thingie]

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.)

[tomjen3]

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.

[pmjordan]

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.

[henrikschroder]

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.

[tfh]

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.

[scrrr]

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]

Switzerland has 156 countries (rank 10)

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

[DirtyAndy]

Was that back in 39?

[johnndege]

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.

[rizal]

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.)

[c4urself]

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.

[seldo]

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...

[ramki]

damn, why Denmark?? quite surprising...

[jrockway]

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

I'm surprised that you're surprised.

[henrikschroder]

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.

[subbu]

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