United Arab Emirates now has the most powerful passport in the world

The United Arab Emirates now has the most powerful passport in the world, according to a new study.

nomadic capitalista tax and immigration consulting firm, ranked the value of passports from nearly 200 countries based on five factors: the availability of visa-free travel, taxes on residents living in foreign countries, perception, the availability of double citizenship and personal liberty.

He found that the UAE’s new visa-free travel privileges, as well as its rapidly growing economy and no income tax have made its passports the most valuable.

Meanwhile, the United States ranked 43rd largely because it taxes citizens living in foreign countries. The UK was also ranked 30th and Australia 39th.

Previous studies have ranked both the UK and the US higher, but they only took into account how many countries a passport holder can enter without a prior visa.

In the Nomad Capitalists analysis, the greatest weight was placed on the availability of visa-free travel, but emphasis was also placed on the amount of taxes citizens pay, the perception of the country, the availability of dual citizenship, and the personal freedoms that residents enjoy.

It assigned the lowest scores to counties that tax citizens no matter where they live, such as the United States, and gave countries that allow citizens to move to avoid tax scores of 20 to 30, countries that don’t scores of 40. they tax foreign income and scores of 40 to countries with zero tax scores of 50.

Those that strictly prohibit dual citizenship, such as China, received a score of 10, while those that allow naturalization received a score of 50.

Nomad Capitalist also relied on data from the World Happiness Report and the Human Development Index to determine how each country was perceived, but Jovana Vojinovac, director of operations and sales, said the bottom line is: “Will someone bother you? at the airport for being a citizen of that country?

And the firm relied on data and news reports on conscription, government surveillance and press freedoms to determine the availability of personal liberties.

In the end, he found that the United States scored the lowest for its fiscal policies, receiving 30 points for both perception and personal freedom.

“Theoretically, you can live on the moon if you are a US citizen and you will pay taxes to the US,” Vojinovac explained to CNBC.

The UK also scored a 30 for its tax policy, a 20 for its public perception and a 30 for personal freedom; while Australia got 20 in taxes and 30 in perception.

But the United Arab Emirates came in as the “winner of the decade,” Vojinovac said, because it “added 106 new visa-free countries in the last decade” and is a “tax-free country.”

Its global perception has also improved due to the influx of rich and famous people moving to the Middle Eastern country.

That’s a noticeable change from just a few years ago, Vojinovac said, when his clients would say “I’m not sure how safe it is” or “We’ve heard some things about your laws,” meaning it’s a Muslim country.’

Others would also confuse the United Arab Emirates with Saudi Arabia, he said, “lumping it all together.”

But little by little, people began to realize that it has “very liberal visa policies and is very welcoming to foreigners, welcome to investment…[se]It has practically become a go-to destination for most people who have businesses based on cryptocurrency.”

The UAE also gained 10 points in Nomad’s personal freedom category since the 2022 ranking, due to a series of reforms in the country, although personal freedom remains the UAE’s weakest category.

In 2021, the government announced that foreigners such as investors, doctors, scientists, and intellectuals who meet certain requirements can obtain Emerati citizenship.

Still, Vojinovac said, the United Arab Emirates passport is widely considered one of the most difficult to obtain.

“Since the law is relatively new, we have yet to see its practical implications as the number of applications increases.”

Meanwhile, the study also found that “more and more people” are moving to other countries than ever before.

According to Vojinovac, more retirees are looking to move to countries that have better health care systems and personal freedom, telling CNBC: “Freedom…will stand out in the coming years, especially in industry, as we see massive waves of immigration from certain countries.’

So far, he said, the largest number of people are moving from Canada, which used to top passport rankings.

However, over the past year, Vojinovac said, his ranking has slipped into the categories of perception and personal freedom due to incidents such as the government’s jailing of Freedom Convoy protesters.

Now, many Canadians are moving to Costa Rica, Vojinovac said, while more Americans are moving to Portugal, which is also popular with wealthy people who want to live in the European Union, digital nomads, retirees and families.

But the influx of immigrants to Portugal has caused a housing crisis in the country with sky-high rental and housing prices. In February, the government was forced to announce that it was ending its Golden Visa program to help stabilize costs.

The same thing happened in Costa Rica, Vojinovac said.

“Most people think it’s a bit cheap, okay, we’re saving a lot of money by going there,” he explained. ‘But many foreigners came to the country. Rental prices began to rise.

Mexico also proved popular with foreigners during the pandemic because it “didn’t have any COVID mandate.”

And cryptocurrency fans are moving more to El Salvador, where Bitcoin is legal tender.