For example, according to the Henley Passport Index the weakest passport is from Afghanistan (not a surprise) as cizitens there can only visit 24 destinations visa free meaning they require a visa just to travel anywhere while for instance a Japanese passport holder can visit up to 187 destinations visa free making their passport strong.
Why is it that passport holders from “third world” (i.e. Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, etc.). nations are weak, meaning they need to constantly apply for visas just to visit countries that citizens of “first world” countries can enter without a visa. (Like an American can enter Poland without a visa while a Iranian needs a visa before entering).
As in if they saw someone from a “third world” country via immigration, they either get profiled more or face discrimination at border crossings due to suspicion of overstaying or violating the terms of their visa (i.e. entering under a tourist visa but finds employment), is that why it’s difficult for immigrants from those countries to travel?
What determines passport strength? Does it relate to a nation’s diplomatic relations and political stability? Since people from the “first world” can travel to a lot more destinations (is it more on mutual trust? That nations have biases towards certain regions of the world & their reputation, like they consider Middle East as an unstable region).
tbf Pakistan is sort of an anomaly because the government’s favorite hobby is shooting themselves in the foot.
They could easily move their passport up the rank line by like 30 spaces by just having clean diplomatic relations with other countries instead of running their embassies like a waffle house that requires bribes to get your food lol.
Yeah you pretty much answered your own question. Many people seek employment and the pursuit of happiness abroad since the opportunities and possibilities are much higher than at home.
While there are also security reasons on limiting passport power, it is primarily based on whether or not the country is known for immigration for employment/work. They don’t want people bypassing the work visa limit on an easy tourist visa.
The opposite also holds true, 3rd world countries don’t really gain anything from limiting 1st world people from entering. Often they’ll even offer special perks because it encourages foreign business and investment.
On a related note, I find the idea of borders and limiting immigration somewhat archaic and absurd for this very reason. If you have a healthy economy, there will always be constant demand for labor and growth. There’s really no reason to limit the human resource market, especially when visas often only allow highly educated people to immigrate.
I always found MiB’s take on it rather nice. When you have aliens traveling to earth to leave in peace and just make a living, it makes the INS (precursor to ICE) and the idea of country borders seem stupid to even exist.