Depending upon where a person – and their passport – are from, certain citizens of the world have greater access to foreign countries than others.
As anyone with a restricted passport can attest, traveling to another country becomes a much bigger challenge when you've got to navigate the bureaucratic nightmare that is visa applications, interviews, general mountains of paperwork, and later, the immigration line of a foreign airport.
Financial firm Arton Capital recently updated its annual Passport Index, which ranks the world's passports based upon the number of countries to which a passport holder can travel visa-free or obtain a visa on arrival. When it comes to the ease with which a person moves through passport control, Vietnamese travelers are usually fighting an uphill battle.
Topping the list are Germany and Sweden, both of which have passports that afford travelers access to 118 nations visa-free as well as 39 visa-on-arrival countries. The best Asian passport on the list is South Korea, whose citizens can visit 114 countries without a visa and 41 with on-arrival visas.
Further down on the list, Vietnam comes in at 157 out of 199 passports, sharing its spot with Cambodia and China. Passport holders from these three nations can gain visa-free access to 19 countries as well as visa-on-arrival entry to 31 countries. Slightly further up the list is Thailand at number 104, while Laos comes in at 174.
When it comes to welcoming rank – the number of passports which a nation accepts visa-free or with a visa upon arrival – Vietnam fares slightly better, coming in at number 84 and accepting 23 nations visa-free or with an on-arrival visa. Cambodia, however, is at the very top, permitting 198 countries easy access to the Kingdom.
[Photo via Travip]
