Travel restrictions based on country of origin

[Sp4Mike]

I know Americans cannot travel to countries, that say, a Brit can. But even Brit's are restricted from some nations. Is there a country who's residents can travel freely throughout the world?


If there isn't one, what country has the least trouble? What countries residents can get into (and out of) Iraq, Iran, Saudi, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, The 'Stans, yet still be able to get into the US, Australia, all of Europe, Russia etc? Does such a place exist?

[Pecha72]

What countries are those, that Americans cannot travel to? I know that getting a visa for Iran, for example, can be quite tough for some nationalities at the moment.

My Finnish passport should get me visas to all countries you listed, except maybe Saudi-Arabia. Do you plan to change citizenship?

[catweasel67]

Originally Posted by Pecha72

What countries are those, that Americans cannot travel to? I know that getting a visa for Iran, for example, can be quite tough for some nationalities at the moment.

My Finnish passport should get me visas to all countries you listed, except maybe Saudi-Arabia. Do you plan to change citizenship?

google ftw

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide...s/20111223.htm

[Sp4Mike]

Originally Posted by catweasel67

google ftw

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide...s/20111223.htm

Your googlefu far surpasses mine! I looked for about 20 minutes without finding anything useful before posting here. Thank you!

[catweasel67]

Originally Posted by Sp4Mike

Your googlefu far surpasses mine! I looked for about 20 minutes without finding anything useful before posting here. Thank you!

Search criteria "whcih country has the least travel restrictions?"

:p

[Pecha72]

Originally Posted by catweasel67

google ftw

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide...s/20111223.htm

That link is may be cutting a few corners short. Though that´s tough to prove, cos they don´t even list the countries, that for example Finns could travel without a visa, they just announce, how many there are, according to them!

Especially ´Visa-on-arrival´ is something, that´s almost guaranteed to lead to confusion. In some cases, it could be available only, when you arrive via certain entry points (usually the biggest airports), and there may be other conditions, that you need to fulfill in order to get the VOA. And these regulations change all the time. So it´s really not so simple, any list would probably be out of date within a few weeks.

[acejones]

A number of years ago I was in Havana. A young Cuban I was talking with made the comment that "our governments don't like each other, but our people, no problem !
He was of course referring to the USA and Cuba. I, of course wasn't supposed to be there.
I am very resentful of the fact that my government tells me which countries I cannot go to. Of course, there are many countries I have no desire or interest in going to.

[Warin]

Originally Posted by acejones

A young Cuban I was talking with made the comment that "our governments don't like each other, but our people, no problem !

Yep. And all the people don't like their govbermint some of the time.

I know I don't.

[AlpineGuerrilla]

Well, there is no country whose citizens can travel everywhere without the need of a visa. But maybe some come close to it. I guess usually those countries are from the western world, high income, possibily neutral and with only few people emigrating. Citizens from those countries possibly are no "threat" to the target country. But a bad influence can of course be its history (colonialization, diplomatic disputes, etc.), repercussions for different religions, economy, trade with "the enemy", repercussions for strong immigration laws (for example there are a few african countries that make it difficult for French passport holders to enter because it's difficult for themselves to get a french visa).

I'm thinking of countries like Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Belgium, etc.

But on the other hand, what countries are you think about where you are not able to get in? If you were from a poor country, yes, chances are high your visa gets declined when they don't believe that you only want to travel. But as a westerner, that happens seldom.

For you americans I can only think of problems with getting an Iranian visa. Saudia Arabia and Somalia is probably impossible, too, for different reasons. But those countries are off limits to others as well.

I think the problem is less your passport than your will to ride a motorcycle in said country. That poses more of a problem than going there as a backpacker where you have to travel on the usual bus/train routes (at least that's probably their logic).

-Azerbaijan only lets you ride your vehicle for 3 days or you have to pay a huge deposit
-Turkmenistan requires a guide if you are there for more than 5 days (Transit visa)
-China requires you to have a guide with you - somewhere around 150$ a day
-Myanmar doesn't let foreigners participate in traffic
-Israel - have fun getting there through land borders
-North Korea - ummm, I won't have to specify that, do I?

Summing it up, the bigger problem probably is the security in some countries and being able to ride your bike.

Peter and Kay Forwood have ridden their Harley to every (or almost?) country that is. Including North Korea. I think they are Australian.

[Warin]

Originally Posted by AlpineGuerrilla

Peter and Kay Forwood have ridden their Harley to every (or almost?) country that is. Including North Korea. I think they are Australian.

Yes Ozies. Blog over on HU http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/forwood/
Read it if you want to know why belt drives are a bad idea.

On the visa issiue. One country may find that other countries visitors want to stay ilegally, so they introduce visas to vet the incoming people. The second country then introduces visas back to the first countries visitors... tit for tat. Thus both countries people suffer visas due to a few.

[Sp4Mike]

Originally Posted by Pecha72

. Do you plan to change citizenship?

Maybe!

[Sp4Mike]

Denmark, Sweden, and Finland #1? Am I reading that right? They have 173 countries that you can travel to without a visa? That seems strange.

Note: The score means the number of countries citizens of that country can travel to without a visa.

[catweasel67]

Originally Posted by Sp4Mike

Denmark, Sweden, and Finland #1? Am I reading that right? They have 173 countries that you can travel to without a visa? That seems strange.

Without visiting every country's foreign office website it's hard to say but it sounds about right. I was surprised to see Germany ranked so highly though :p


It's also worth remembering that there's roughly 200 (the number varies depending on who you talk to) countries so if the ones you want to visit are the 27 with restrictions.....

I also suspect that war/civil unrest zones cause more restrictions than visa requirements.

[Sp4Mike]

Originally Posted by catweasel67

I also suspect that war/civil unrest zones cause more restrictions than visa requirements.

Good point.

[ferals5]

Originally Posted by Sp4Mike

I know Americans cannot travel to countries, that say, a Brit can. But even Brit's are restricted from some nations. Is there a country who's residents can travel freely throughout the world?


If there isn't one, what country has the least trouble? What countries residents can get into (and out of) Iraq, Iran, Saudi, Kuwait, Libya, Egypt, The 'Stans, yet still be able to get into the US, Australia, all of Europe, Russia etc? Does such a place exist?

I'm not sure I'd wish to travel some of those countries...risk out weighs benefit for me. There's still a lot of the world to visit that has minimal risk attached.

http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/

Looking forward to reading your middle east RR





dammit..now where's my passport....