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dumpsternow t1_j58n506 wrote

I am not too sure if I interpret this correctly but Germany and Spain should be the most "powerful" in the sense that they do not need a passport to travel within EU regions but Singapore need a passport to travel to EU. I.e. for Germany and Spain, EU countries are excluded in the counting of the 190 but Japan will include the EU countries in the 193. Hence Germany and Spain can access more countries without a need for a visa.

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mfb- t1_j58v69k wrote

> EU countries are excluded in the counting of the 190

They are included in the count. Germany counts towards Spain's "passport" power and vice versa. You can get the list and count yourself.

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horsemagicians t1_j59a1yo wrote

What causes it to change? Canada was the second most powerful in 2014 and is now 8th with 186 countries.

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mfb- t1_j59enns wrote

Probably Covid, but you also had some random changes before. Comparing Canada to Germany: Iran, Myanmar, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam are visa-free with a German passport but not a Canadian one.

Japan is more Asia-focused (no surprise), in particular it has visa-free access to China and India while the other two do not.

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Ibetnoonehasthisname t1_j599p55 wrote

Post Brexit I think there's an argument for Irish passports to be considered the most powerful.

I believe it's the only passport in the world right now that allows full freedom of movement within the EU and UK due to the Common Travel Area. Irish citizens living in the UK (and vice versa) can even vote in national elections.

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Plinio540 t1_j59r8hv wrote

It's true it's the only passport which allows freedom of movement in both Schengen and UK. But that's just Schengen + one additional area/nation.

A Nordic passport allows freedom of movement in Schengen + Greenland. Ireland does not. With a French passport you have access to Schengen + collectives like French Polynesia and Saint Pierre & Miquelon. So it gets a bit fuzzy if all you are ranking is "freedom of movement".

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Ibetnoonehasthisname t1_j5o1qgi wrote

Sure yeah, but I don't mean that it's a valuable passport based solely on number of countries/territories.

I was thinking more that the Irish passports arguable value that it's the only passport that allows free movement within all of the EU plus the world's sixth (or is it fifth? Seventh?) largest economy, the UK.

No disrespect to Greenland or French Polynesia of course, I just think being able to up sticks and move to London as well as Amsterdam/Madrid/Munich/Paris basically whenever you want is arguably more economically or professionally valuable that being able to move to Tahiti. But I guess that does depend on your aims/lifestyle I suppose.

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Russiadontgiveafuck t1_j59u9r0 wrote

German and Spanish passport holders have the added advantage of being able to actually move to and work in any EU country - that's 26 countries you can move to basically hassle-free.

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Plinio540 t1_j59uflm wrote

This is true for all EU passport holders.

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