By Thomas Jackman Kuwabara

One of my biggest interests is travel. I love traveling, the feeling that it gives me when I see a new place, experience a new thing, and taste a new food. As I’ve been stuck in quarantine, I’ve thought about traveling a lot, and I’ve also thought about passport privilege. 

Travel has become very desirable among people around the world. Nearly everyone wants to travel around the world to meet new people, experience new cultures, taste amazing new foods, and see beautiful places. I and many others have had dreams about traveling to every corner of the globe. But how can we make it possible? The tough reality is that many people may not be able to. I would love to say that it is just about hard work, travel budgeting, and great planning, but it isn’t easy for many across the globe. 

The tough reality is that not everyone has equal opportunity, and it isn’t caused by their own actions. This is because where we are born gives us certain privileges in life. These privileges include traveling. I was born into certain privileges, and one of them is having a powerful passport, the Canadian passport. 

You may be wondering What does it mean to have a powerful passport? Passport power can be defined as how many countries you can travel to without the need of a visa. The more powerful the passport, the fewer visas are required. Passport power is measured every year by the Passport Index; the Passport Index ranks passports based on how many countries each passport lets people get into without a visa, visa on arrival, and visa required beforehand. A passport gets a point for every country each holder can enter without a visa or visa on arrival. In 2020, holders of a United Arab Emirates passport hold the world’s strongest passport. The UAE passport holds a score of 178, which means its holders can enter 178 countries without a visa or get a visa on arrival. That is a 178 out of 198 (Based on Passport Index). At the bottom of the list, you’ll see Afghanistan with a score of 35, Iraq with a score of 37, and Syria with a score of 40. With these passports, their holders face many obstacles getting into many more countries. 

The Power of a passport is affected by many factors, but they are all related to a nation’s government. For example, these factors are things such as diplomatic ties and foreign policies. A passport is one of the things that you’re awarded at birth. It may be a powerful passport or it may be a weak passport. It is one of those things you can’t change–it goes along with where you’re born and your upbringing. I have lots of freedom with my Canadian passport since I can travel to every country and 168 of them without a visa or visa on arrival. If I had a friend who lived in Syria with a Syrian passport and we both wanted to travel to the United Kingdom, we would have different experiences getting into the UK. As a Canadian, I can get into the UK without a Visa for up to 180 days, while a Syrian will need to get into contact with a UK embassy to fill out paperwork, send in a copy of their Syrian passport, and wait for up to weeks to get an acceptance or denial. If they receive an acceptance, they will likely experience extra precautions after arrival in the UK because of the country on their passport. 

As I see myself travelling for as long as I possibly can, I see myself taking advantage of my passport to travel to as many countries without the hassle of filling out forms for visas in advance of my travels. 

When you look at your passport next when you decide to travel again, be thankful for where you can go with your passport.