American Passport Privilege and Long-Term Travel
The Henley Passport Index ranks the strength of all the passports in the world. As of 2020, the US passport is still tied for the 7th strongest. But we can’t go anywhere, so that doesn’t make any sense!
Actually it does, Henley doesn’t factor in temporary bans, their system is based on what countries your passport gets you the privilege of entering visa-free or with a visa on arrival. In 2014, the US passport was ranked at number one and we have fallen off about 1 spot each year since then.
But number 7 ain’t that bad, it got us visa-free or visa on arrival access to 185 countries.
But with the temporary bans, the US passport holders are now welcome in about 50 countries without a visa in advance.
You know where that puts us on the list? Tied for 93rd, with 4 other countries - Laos, Anglola, Burundi and Egypt!
But in the fall of 2020 we were in dead last and aight above us sat Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, so at least American passports are being welcomed in more places now.
If this pandemic does nothing else, it should humble US passport holders. Lately we’ve been saying and hearing “We can’t go anywhere” - Which is not true, we have access to a number of countries.
But what we should become more aware of is how many other people around the world “can’t go anywhere” either. But it’s like that for them all the time, not just because their government is full of irresponsible assholes sacrificing their citizens on the altar of personal profit.
But that’s not what we’re talking about today, passport privilege is on my mind. The problem with our passport privilege is that we don’t typically recognize how hard it is for other people to travel the world, but if you’re planning to take a career break, you should be especially mindful of this.
Visas add expense to your trip.
Visas add time to your trip planning.
Visas can be declined for any reason.
Visas make it harder for the average citizen of a country to legally cross borders.
Visa free and visa on arrival systems add a level of ease to travel that some people will never get to experience. While we are sitting at home wishing things were different, it’s a good time to reflect on how good (and easy) we had it, and never take it for granted again.