The report published by the global consultancy firm Nomad Capitalist reveals that passport of Sweden is the most influential in the world, though Australia might be popular as the fortunate nation. The passport of Australia was ranked at the 16th place in a tie with the passport of the UK, as quoted by MSN.
The nations are ranked in the list based on the value of nationality in the data collated by Nomad Capitalist and published as ‘2017 Passport Index by Nomad’.
The criterion on which the nations based were overall freedom, visa waiver travel, dual nationality, perception, and taxation.
The top ten nations of the world for 2017 are:
1. Sweden
2. Belgium
3. Spain and Italy (tied)
4. Ireland
5. Germany and Finland (tied)
6. Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Denmark (tied)
The visa-free policy of the European Union ensured that the renowned nations of Europe were in the top places of the ranking. The report of Nomad capitalists states that the most significant aspect for the value of a nation’s passport is the travel prospects that it entitles the individual. The index also gave top priority to the visa waiver travel that went on to determine almost 50% of each nation’s final ranking.
New Zealand secured 11th place in the list along with France. Though Australia secured very high marks for overall freedom, dual nationality, and the perception it lost on grounds of taxation and visa waiver travel. This was in spite of the fact that Australian passport entitles an individual to electronic visa to almost 169 nations in the world.
When it came to taxation 20 marks were given to Australia that implies that nationals could prevent taxation by immigrating overseas though with hurdles. On the other hand, UAE and Monaco were given 50 marks as nationals are free of taxation irrespective of the nation of residence.
25th rank was awarded to Monaco that was tied with five nations - Estonia, Norway, South Korea, and Malaysia. UAE was ranked at the 70th place tied along with Venezuela.
The US was ranked at the 35th place and shared the place with Slovenia. The US secured as low as 10 marks for taxation implying that its nationals are subject to tax on their overseas income, irrespective of the nation of residence, a major concern of the dual passport holders of the US.