The most desirable passports on earth don’t include America

dallas — A passport allows one to be a citizen of the world but some think it should also work for you. As in, if you’re wealthy and welltravelled, it should be a bit like an exclusive invitation-only credit card: lots of benefits, lots of perks, lots of points.

That’s the view of Nomad Capitalist, a firm that recently ranked 199 countries corresponding to their “value of citizenship.” In addition to visa-free travel options, this ranking uses a weighted approach that considers the amount of taxes a country levies on citizens who live abroad, along with the nation’s overall global reputation, civil and personal freedoms, and the ability to hold multiple passports simultaneously. And no, America, you’re not even in the top 20.

Atop the list is Sweden, followed by a bevy of other European Union nations. A Swedish passport allows visa-free travel to 176 countries or territories, just one fewer than world leader Germany. Moreover, Swedish expats can easily “get out of the high taxes in Sweden and go live somewhere else where there are lower taxes without a lot of headaches,” says Andrew Henderson, the veteran traveller, entrepreneur, and blogger who founded Nomad.

Nomad aims to help wealthy adventurers reduce their tax burden

A US citizen that has to pay tax on their worldwide income, and abide by a bunch of regulations, and whose emails can be spied on that passport might be a little less valuable than an equivalent European passport Andrew Henderson, founder of Nomad Capitalist

by relocating abroad, obtain residence permits, and invest in other countries as a way to “grow their wealth faster.” It also advises people to obtain a second passport whenever possible.

Viewed through this prism, the British, German, and US passports once billed as the world’s “best” rank below several European nations. (Of the top 43 passports on Nomad’s list, 33 are European.) The common denominator among all these countries is a lack of tax on citizens’ income regardless of where they live. The US, by comparison, taxes citizens’ income no matter where it’s earned.

When it comes to passport desirability, America finds itself tied for 35th with Slovenia, both having visa-free travel to 174 nations. The US earned low marks because of its taxation stance towards nonresidents and the world’s perception of America. This last measure was assigned a value based on how a country and its citizens are received around the world, as in when its passport holders are refused entry or “encounter substantial hostility.”

“A US citizen that has to pay tax on their worldwide income, and abide by a bunch of regulations, and whose emails can be spied on “that passport might be a little less valuable than an equivalent European passport that doesn’t have some of those other restrictions,” Henderson, a Cleveland native, said in his video. — Bloomberg