EU-USA “visa war” may damage the US passport’s power and value.
The recently heightened diplomatic tensions between the US and the European Union around the lack of reciprocity for all EU members may negatively affect the power and reach of the US passport. In a vote today at the EU parliament it was decided that the EU should impose visa requirements on all US visitors, unless the US Visa Waiver program is extended to Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, the only EU member countries currently left out.
The US passport is within the 3rd ranking of the most powerful passports in the world according to the 2017 edition of the Passport Index, Arton Capital’s global ranking of the world’s passports. Losing visa-free travel to all of Europe’s member states may send the US passport into a free fall trajectory all the way to the 26th rank, or way below that of Mexico, which is currently ranked at 22nd place with a visa-free score of 130.
Europe, with its 28 member states and related countries, holds a strong influence on the passport power ranking.
Passport Index is the real-time benchmark for the ranking of the world’s passports. The online service allows users to explore all the passports of the world and learn more about their rank, power and even color.
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