# Would you exchange your passport for one from another country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262 "2021-03-19T22:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/61 "2021-03-23T11:41:35Z")
I have an Australian colleague who was living in the US and considering moving here permanently until COVID. His wife and kids were miserable here and insisted they go home with or without him. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/62 "2021-03-23T12:36:19Z")
No doubt that it could be hard to get used to for some. But my wife and I have been there many times, and we both love it. I say “it” but states/cities are really different in the US. I’ve been to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and a few other places. Florida might be very different again but we both want to do it. Daughter is only 4 so she will adapt to anything. We won’t be selling our places here in Japan so if we hate it we’ll just come back, but I doubt that will happen. Japan is getting unsafe for me to live in - one little pandemic and they would stop me from re-entry to Japan indefinitely. That puts my job and family at risk. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/63 "2021-03-23T12:39:25Z")
Good for you. If I could change my citizenship and be able to have the same level of job, house, etc. I’d stop being American in an instant. I’d trade my US passport for any nation that has universal healthcare, a respect for science and less gun violence/terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/64 "2021-03-23T12:53:00Z")
I moved from the US to the UK in 1995. Got a British passport in 2000. Maintained two passports until around 2012 when I gave up the US one. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/65 "2021-03-23T13:05:59Z")
My biggest problem will be learning to tip. I will need a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy to get past doing something expected, that has immense negative externalities, just so that I fit in. Goes against my very nature. We’ll eat in a lot. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/66 "2021-03-23T13:48:19Z")
What’s the difference between an Australian and a canoe? A canoe tips. Take comfort in the fact that countries with tipping cultures have more corruption than those without. > **[Study: Countries with more tipping are more corrupt](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/09/05/study-countries-with-more-tipping-are-more-corrupt/)** > > If you want to know how corrupt a given country, you may not need a big police sting. You could just look at how regularly its citizens tip. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/67 "2021-03-23T14:18:45Z")
Interesting. I’m guessing that finding only correlates in western countries. Asian countries have massive corruption and no (or minimal) tipping. Trouble is, you can’t call out corruption unless it makes the news, and if the society is built around keeping corruption out of the news, it looks like you have zero corruption. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/68 "2021-03-23T20:20:05Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > I think most people wouldn’t trade their passport for another country, unless they happened to live in a country that really limits your travel possibilities, like North Korea. > > The difference in the number of countries you can visit without a visa doesn’t really matter unless you often drop what you are doing and fly off to Peoples Republic of Slobbovia for a quick weekend. Visas, in my experience, are pretty painless to get, it’s just that they are not a same day thing. But this again calls into question what the OP meant by his/her OP question. E.g. my American passport allows me to travel to most anyplace in the world. Would I trade it for a Canadian passport so I could easily travel to Cuba? No, I wouldn’t. Going to Cuba doesn’t mean that much to me. But I would trade it for a different and more important reason–holding a Canadian passport would mean I am afforded the rights and responsibilities of a Canadian citizen which are so, so, so, much better and more civilized than the USA. Am I mistaken in thinking the OP never clarified their question? I’d like to know what they meant because it’s rather silly that some of us are talking about what countries you could visit while the rest of us are talking about what it would mean to be a citizen of another country. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/69 "2021-03-23T20:55:44Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not all visas are “painless” to get when you come from an African country. Are we talking jumping thru extra hoops or outright not wanting to give you one? Is it totally a racist thing or do white South Africans have similar problems? > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Would I trade it for a Canadian passport so I could easily travel to Cuba? Getting in to Cuba with a US passport is only a problem if you try to leave direct from the US. You can go to Mexico and then to Cuba no problem, Cuba will just agreeably not stamp your passport. Or at least it used to be, I’m talking 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/70 "2021-03-23T22:48:41Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Am I mistaken in thinking the OP never clarified their question? I’d like to know what they meant because it’s rather silly that some of us are talking about what countries you could visit while the rest of us are talking about what it would mean to be a citizen of another country. You are mistaken. See this post from Mar 21: > [@EastUmpqua](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > And the OP, despite returning to the thread, has still not specified whther he wanted to talk about exchanging citizenship and all that entails, or simply which passport would be best / most versatile for travel. > > Mostly the former. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/71 "2021-03-24T05:43:25Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Are we talking jumping thru extra hoops or outright not wanting to give you one? Both. It varies by country, and length and purpose of intended stay > [@mordecaiB](#): > > Is it totally a racist thing or do white South Africans have similar problems? No, White South Africans who only have a South African passport face the same problems. Which is why a lot of White South Africans scrabble for any ancestral passport they can get (mostly UK) ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/72 "2021-03-24T06:34:44Z")
Sorry, man, that’s all kinds of fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/73 "2021-03-24T07:52:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Which is why a lot of White South Africans scrabble for any ancestral passport they can get (mostly UK) And in some cases get very disappointed when they discover that a lot of benefits in the UK depend on a prior period of residence here rather than citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2021, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262/74 "2021-03-24T08:51:40Z")
Oh, yes. It’s quite a shocker for some. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-exchange-your-passport-for-one-from-another-country/938262.md?page=3)