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US passports have weakened under Trump

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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US passports have weakened under Trump

By Yaron Steinbuch October 25, 2017

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Making America great again hasn’t translated well to passport bragging rights. Singapore was named the country with the most powerful passport in the world — while the US travel document has taken a tumble since President Trump took power, according to a new ranking. Developed by citizenship advisory firm Arton Capital, the Passport Index sorts and ranks the world’s passports by their cross-border access. Thanks to a recent decision by Paraguay to remove visa requirements for passport holders of the Asian city-state, they can now easily visit 159 countries — either without a visa or by obtaining a visa on arrival. Until this decision, Singapore was tied with Germany at 158. Germany now holds the spot for the second-most powerful passport, closely followed by Sweden and South Korea at 157. The United Kingdom got a score of 156, while the United States got 154 — tied with Canada, Ireland and Malaysia. This marks the first time an Asian country has had the most powerful passport, said Philippe May, head of the Singapore office of Arton Capital, the global advisory firm that developed the index.

The US passport has fallen in favor since Trump became president, the Passport Index said, noting that Turkey and the Central African Republic were the most recent countries to revoke visa-free status for Americans. This means US citizens will not be allowed to leave Turkish airports during connecting flights. And American passports could get weaker still, as the European Parliament voted to end visa-free travel for US citizens in March, the UK’s Express reported. The vote followed Trump’s refusal to allow visa-free travel to members of five EU countries — Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. Last year, the US came close behind the UK, ranking in the fourth spot, with its citizens able to travel visa-free to 156 countries. The least mobile passport in the world is Afghanistan, with a score of 22, followed by Pakistan and Iraq at 26.
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Yet another indication that the US is lagging under Trump.

Related: Passport Index | Global Passport Power Rank 2017
 
Actually it is worse than that... if the EU goes through with its threat, then Americans will not be able to access the EU visa free anymore. Now this has nothing to do with Trump, but the US congress and government in general under Obama (and before) who still discriminate against certain EU countries. So far only the EU parliament has raised a red flag, but if the EU - US relationship gets any worse, we could see the EU Council of Ministers change their mind as well.
 
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