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Best Passports to Own

Want to be the next Jason Bourne? A world class traveler? Or a Great Commission worker?

Which is the best passport to own? US? Switzerland? Canada? UK? See interesting results below.

The Henley Visa Restrictions Index is a global ranking of countries according to travel freedom their citizens enjoy. Henley & Partners has analyzed the visa regulations of all the countries and territories in the world. It has created an index which ranks countries according to the visa-free access its citizens enjoy to other countries. This is the first time that a global ranking shows the international travel freedom of the citizens of the various countries as well as the international relations and status of individual countries relative to others.

Note: There are 195 countries in the world. The following ranking does not take into consideration such factors as negative perception the world has of a given country's passport (e.g. US in the Middle East) or the vigor in which a country will back and aid their citizens in another country in case of emergency situations, arrests, etc. The study is solely based on visa free access.

The winner? Denmark, although the material difference between the top 10 countries (24 nations in total due to ties) is probably negligible (access to 157 countriees vs. 146). US (#3) & Canada (#4) are have just a one country difference and are only two and three countries less than #1 Denmark in terms of visa free access. Says Henley, "The Canadian passport is one of the best-regarded in the world and offers extensive visa-free travel."

 

Rank   Score Rank  Score
1 Denmark 157 14 Malta 139
2 Finland 156 24 Israel 118
2 Ireland 156 17 Hungary 131
2 Portugal 156 20 Argentina 127
3 Belgium 155 23 Brazil 122
3 Germany 155 26 Romania 115
3 Sweden 155 27 Mexico 114
3 United States 155 29 Croatia 108
4 Canada 154 35 South Africa 88
4 Italy 154 38 St. Kitts & Nevis 84
4 Japan 154 42 Turkey 75
4 Luxembourg 154 44 Dominica 71
4 Netherlands 154 53 Russian Federation 60
4 Spain 154 54 Taiwan 59
5 Austria 153 61 Thailand 52
5 Norway 153 61 United Arab Emirates 52
6 France 152 70 Saudi Arabia 42
6 United Kingdom 152 72 Bosnia and Herzegowina 40
7 Australia 151 75 India 37
8 New Zealand 150 78 Egypt 34
8 Singapore 150 79 China 33
9 Greece 149 82 Jordan 30
9 Switzerland 149 83 Korea, Dem People's Republic 29
10 Iceland 146 87 Pakistan 25
11 Malaysia 145 87 Iran 25
12 Korea, Republic of 144 88 Iraq 23
13 Liechtenstein 140 89 Afghanistan 22
14 Cyprus 139
Posted on Mar 24, 2009 at 05:56PM by Registered CommenterRichKao in , | Comments1 Comment | References1 Reference

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You can create valid passport photos with http://idphoto4you.com website.
It uses face detection to set size and position of head.
It is free.

December 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJohn

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