<story><title>Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?</title><url>http://www.passportindex.org/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bluerobotcat</author><text>The number of countries that you can enter without a visa might not be the best metric.&lt;p&gt;For example, if you have a US or Signapore passport, you might be able to enter a lot of countries without a visa, but Brazil is not one of them. Brazil is obviously a hugely important country, so that seems like a notable disadvantage. EU citizens can enter Brazil without a visa.&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there are several countries that have special (higher) visa fees for processing US passports.&lt;p&gt;Having a Schengen passport is also pretty sweet if you want to &lt;i&gt;move&lt;/i&gt; to a different Schengen country.&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you get kidnapped for a random, you don&amp;#x27;t want to have to rely on a US passport! (Then again, if you get kidnapped by North Korea, Bill Clinton might personally fly over to negotiate your release.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>avar</author><text>Passport goodwill is also another metric that&amp;#x27;s often overlooked. Would you rather have to apply for a visa to enter a few obscure countries on the planet, or regularly have to deal with scorn from border guards because your country bombed theirs within living memory?&lt;p&gt;As an aside you&amp;#x27;re misinformed about what Schengen is. Having a passport from a country in Schengen has nothing to do with being able to move to a different Schengen country per-se. You&amp;#x27;re thinking of the European Economic Area. Schengen is a passport-control free zone, whereas the EEA guarantees your freedom of movement between any EEA countries, regardless of whether or not you have to show your passport on arrival.</text></comment>
<story><title>Passport Index – How much power does your passport have?</title><url>http://www.passportindex.org/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bluerobotcat</author><text>The number of countries that you can enter without a visa might not be the best metric.&lt;p&gt;For example, if you have a US or Signapore passport, you might be able to enter a lot of countries without a visa, but Brazil is not one of them. Brazil is obviously a hugely important country, so that seems like a notable disadvantage. EU citizens can enter Brazil without a visa.&lt;p&gt;Additionally, there are several countries that have special (higher) visa fees for processing US passports.&lt;p&gt;Having a Schengen passport is also pretty sweet if you want to &lt;i&gt;move&lt;/i&gt; to a different Schengen country.&lt;p&gt;Finally, if you get kidnapped for a random, you don&amp;#x27;t want to have to rely on a US passport! (Then again, if you get kidnapped by North Korea, Bill Clinton might personally fly over to negotiate your release.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>seanmcdirmid</author><text>China, Russia, India, Indonesia (With VOA) also require visas for Americans, often with retaliatory fees for the visa (they charge us what we charge them). I was surprised that I need a visa to go to austrailia, out of all places, though at least we can do it online...</text></comment>