Americans, Finns and Danes Have Most Freedom to Travel Visa-Free

I’ve been spending the week in Grand Cayman working on a story and chatting with travelers and ex-pats from around the world. Twice I’ve found myself struggling to explain the United States’ ban on travel to Cuba to people understandably baffled by it. When they ask what I think, I find myself saying that whatever you think of Fidel Castro’s government, and I’m not a fan, you should have the right to visit the country and make up your own mind. Besides, the policy has proved remarkably ineffective. The man is still in power. All this was on my mind when I came across this AP headline on CBC.com: Citizens of Denmark, Finland, U.S. have most freedom to travel without visas. It turns out that citizens of these countries can travel to 130 countries without having to get a visa, according to a landmark report. Germany, Ireland and Sweden tied for a close second place, with their citizens able to visit 129 countries without visas.

According to the AP report:

Afghanistan came in last place, with its citizens allowed free travel to just 12 countries. Internationally isolated Iran was next at 14, followed by Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia at 15.

Henley & Partners - which compiled the results by assessing some 40,000 combinations of countries and territories - said it was the first global ranking showing international freedom of travel.

“Visa requirements are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community,” the company said.

All in all, U.S. citizens are among the most privileged travelers in the world, with free and easy access to most of the globe. The issue with Cuba doesn’t involve a visa from the Cuban government, of course. It involves a self-imposed travel ban. Which, given this report, only looks that much more ridiculous.

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