Nomad Capitalist, a consulting firm, has ranked passports from 199 different countries and the results are not according to the general expectations. The ranking, however, is for the people rolling in money who can not stay in one place for long.
The Nomad Passport Index is not for the common citizens; it is for the moneyed travelers who hold multiple citizenships. If you have enough finance to travel everywhere visa-free but you want to pay low taxes; you should get a Swedish passport, which stands at the top of the ranking by the firm. If you are wondering about the US passport, well it did not even make it to the top 30. The ranking has placed the Afghanistan passport at the lowest place.
The criteria to rank the passports was based on visa-free travel, international taxes, global reputation, personal freedom, and the ability to hold multiple citizenships. All the countries that made it to the top 10 belonged to Europe, with Belgium just below Sweden followed by Spain, Italy, and Ireland.
The US is considered to be the land of the free then, why is the US passport not even near the top? Andrew Henderson, the founder of Nomad Capitalist, explained in a video saying,
“Being a US citizen isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” If you are content with visa-free travel and personal freedom, “there’s not much better you can do than a U.S. passport.” Since the index is for the rich, it is meant to show the “true value of citizenship.”
Sweden has made it to the top of the index as owning this passport can get you to 176 countries without a visa, and if the citizens decide to move overseas, they can escape taxes as well. The US citizens, on the other hand, are taxed on all income irrespective of its source or their residence. Even the Americans living abroad face many regulations thus, creating a substantial financial burden for the citizens. The high taxes have caused some citizens to renounce their citizenships.
Visa free travels, global reputation, lesser tax and also,
“Not too many people are getting into fights with the Swedes,” says Handerson.
He explains the factors which you should consider while choosing a second citizenship, in the video below:
What is the rank of the passport that you own and how many countries does it enable you to reach visa-free? Comment below!