Another 'worst of' label gained

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Passports of Arab, Muslim states among the 10 worst in the world

 

 

The passports of seven Arab or Muslim states are among the 10 worst in the world in terms of free access to other countries, according to a recently published Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index.

 

Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestine, Eritrea, Nepal, Sudan, Sri lanka and Lebanon, remain in the bottom 10 places of the ranking. This means that the citizens of these countries enjoy the least freedom of international travel, according to the index.

 

The passports of Syria and Libya are ranked as the 12th and the 14th worst in the world respectivley.

Some Arab Gulf states enjoy the best freedom of travel among Arab countries, but on a global scale, their freedom still appears very restricted.

 

The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain are ranked 56, 57 and 59 respectively in the freedom of travel index.

Saudi Arabia, Oman, Tunisia are ranked 64, 65, and 65 respectively. Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt are ranked 75, 79, and 79 respectively.

 

Twitter reaction

 

News about the Arab passports ranking spawned a mixture of jokes and complaints among Arabs on Twitter.

“Today I heard the Palestinian passport is the 5th-worst to have in the entire world. I was shocked! We have passports?!?” Twitter user @AmerZahr said in a comment.

 

Abdi Aynte @Aynte, from Somalia, tweeted: “Finally a list that #Somalia doesn’t top: its passport is 3rd worst worldwide.”

Many Lebanese users tweeted that their passport was ranked among the 10 worst. @patrickgaley, who identifies himself as a journalist, said the Lebanese passport is also “among the heaviest.”

 

Henley & Partners

said in a statement on its website that “almost all countries now require visas from certain non-nationals who wish to enter their territory.”

 

“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 of nations,” the statement added.

 

Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom topped the 2013 freedom of travel index with a score of 173.

 

Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and the United States jointly held the second rank with free access to 172 countries.

 

Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands hold a joint third rank (171) and Canada rose to rank number 4, from rank 6 it occupied last year, of the passports with the most freedom.

Alcarabiya

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

For the Soomaali baasaboor holders, the least restrictive countries, to my knowledge, are Maleysiya, Indoneesiya, Bakistaan iyo Suuriya. Those countries are the most lenient to Soomaali passport holders.

[N.O.R.F]

Horta what are the government doing to ease the restrictions on Somalis? The restrictions are still in place by friendly countries like UAE and Qatar. I'm sure a limited lift on the numbers with higher deposits taken by the embassies or immigration could be pushed through for genuine somali business people and tourists. Carabtu waa dad lala hadli karo.

[Mad_Mullah]

UAE has easy system, you want to stay, pay a yearly fee. That's it. If you claim to be a businessman you should be able to afford. Why would anyone lift restrictions of a country that's one of the poorest and most dangerous on the planet? Are you joking? UAE/Qatar might be friendly but that's it, they are not in need of us so I don't see why they would change.

 

+ Qatar hardly has any Somali businesses, most are in UAE + Kenya.

[Mad_Mullah]

Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar;980610 wrote:

For the Soomaali baasaboor holders, the least restrictive countries, to my knowledge, are Maleysiya, Indoneesiya, Bakistaan iyo Suuriya. Those countries are the most lenient to Soomaali passport holders.

Never heard of Indonesia/Pakistan do know of Iraq and Syria, Ba'athi regimes usually gave quick visas to anyone from Arab countries.

[nuune]

MMA, don't worry, Somali Passport will soon be the most expensive one in the world to obtain, the least restrictive one.

 

Horta ma ogtahey baasabooorka adduunka ugu qaalisan inuu hada yahey Kuwait.

 

 

Somalia can turn the tables around, in my view, waad arki doontaan, Somalia of today will not be the same of Somalia in 5 years, that is right, 5 years.

 

okey, that might be of little bit out of the mark for some people, recently when I met a guy from the UK, a white guy who owns some businesses in Kenya and in the Middle East, after long discussion, then came the question about passports, he asked about what is the most expensive passport in the world, I told him Brunai, no he said, I told him Belarus, he said no, he told me it is Kuwait, and Somalia will overtake Kuwait in few years time,

 

I asked him why he thinks that way, and continued to say that all eyes will be on Somalia for the next 10 years, he continued to say that he is observing the development in Nairobi to get some billions of contracts, his main business core is RAIL & AGRICULTURE, he said that he wants to be the first to develop these areas before anyone else does, and if they do, he will buy their business, asked him where is he going to put the profit, and he said he will invest inside Somalia, and employ local Somalis and pay them good wages, I told him since Somalis can own the business he has in mind he doesn't need to employ them they can set up easily, he said, that is the problem he has with Somalis, very different from other Africans and that is his main concern, very authoritative and not care how British or white you are, that is some of the reasons Somalia will be a heaven for Somalis in few years time, and continued to say even Microsoft and Google in Somalia will be slaves in Somalia and won't be acting like kings as they do in their Nairobi offices!!

 

 

 

Here are my indicative scenarios:

 

• Half of Somalis in the diaspora will return home permanently within 10 years

• Somalia will have laborers from Asia & Africa to fill the growing market jobs, this will happen on 2018

[N.O.R.F]

Mad_Mullah;980617 wrote:

UAE has easy system, you want to stay, pay a yearly fee. That's it. If you claim to be a businessman you should be able to afford. Why would anyone lift restrictions of a country that's one of the poorest and most dangerous on the planet? Are you joking? UAE/Qatar might be friendly but that's it, they are not in need of us so I don't see why they would change.

 

+ Qatar hardly has any Somali businesses, most are in UAE + Kenya.

Not sure if any of that makes sense to be honest. We (Somalis) need to be able to travel to where the products/markets are. Wealthy business men in Somalia should be able to pay a higher fee/deposit to travel to UAE/Qatar and source products. Enough business is done by Somalis in UAE to easily demonstrate it would be a good move by the UAE govnt with low risk (high deposit, business owner, history of transactions etc). It just requires a process the UAE would be happy with. Somali govnt should be proposing something instead of sitting idle.

[Mad_Mullah]

Somalis always want one of of two extremes. Somalia taking over Kuwait in a couple of years? Eastern Europeans/Asians can't even overtake Kuwait.

 

We should look up to our country but we shouldn't exaggerate. Some people might be glad Somalia improves a lot will be pissed off. But it's not like millions of businessmen are looking for daily updates on what's going on in Somalia.

[Mad_Mullah]

N.O.R.F;980621 wrote:

Not sure if any of that makes sense to be honest. We (Somalis) need to be able to travel to where the products/markets are. Wealthy business men in Somalia should be able to pay a higher fee/deposit to travel to UAE/Qatar and source products. Enough business is done by Somalis in UAE to easily demonstrate it would be a good move by the UAE govnt with low risk (high deposit, business owner, history of transactions etc). It just requires a process the UAE would be happy with. Somali govnt should be proposing something instead of sitting idle.

But Somalis are able to travel to the UAE. They can even live there. I don't see the problem. This is not Scumi Arabia we're talking about.

[nuune]

^^ No they can't travel to the UAE, you just happen to know NOTHING about travel restriction on Somalis in UAE, live there kulahaa, ilaahoow qof aan waxba ogeyn ha cadaabin

[Mad_Mullah]

So the thousands of Somalis living in Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi - what passports do they have, cajeeb. Most came there straight from Somalia so didn't have western passports.

[nuune]

Forget about those already living there or working there, can you as of now with Somali passport board a plane to UAE and live there or work there, the answer is NO, get that niyahow waxba ma kala ogidee, you said Somalis are able to travel to UAE, and live there, you are not talking about PAST there, but present and future, the answer is, no they can't for your info, wax aadan ogeyn faraha ha la galin

[Mad_Mullah]

Saaxib why so emotional, didn't they let you in

[nuune]

Get the information you need and forget about me waryaa.

[N.O.R.F]

lol@nuune

 

MM

 

1. Somalis who can travel there can only travel there if they are married/child of someone who already lives there and has a residence visa (someone who lived there before the ban on Somalis back in 2004).

 

2. No one with a Somali passport can go there on a visit/tourist visa. This is what needs to change. At least for business travellers.