UGLOBAL.COM
“ A Swiss passport remains one
of the world’s most unique
passports in that it does
not indicate the passport
bearer’s place of birth. ”
All countries in this world are not equal; some are economically
powerful while others are not self-sufficient. Similarly,
passports of all the countries are not equal in their respective
strengths. Interestingly, the strength of a country’s passport
is not always directly proportional to its economic or military
power. China, for example, is a great economic power. However,
the Chinese passport is much less powerful in comparison to
the Argentinian passport, for instance, considering Argentina
has a much smaller and comparatively low-performing
economy compared to China’s. Qatar, as another example, has
one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world, but its passport
is much weaker compared to Vanuatu’s, which comparatively
has a much lower GDP per capita.
BIRTHPLACES MATTER
No one has the option of choosing his or her place
of bir th, yet these factors of place of bir th and the
nationality of one’s parents are factors that determine
one’s original nationality. Some countries, like Canada
or the United States, grant citizenship to anyone born
in the country’s territory, which is something referred
to as jus soli, or bir thright citizenship. Most other
countries grant citizenship on the basis of nationality
of one, or both, of the parents, something referred to
as jus sanguinis.
A c hild b or n to c i tize ns of the Philip pines in the
Philippines, for example, will bear a Filipino passport,
which isn’t a very strong travel document. However, a
child born to citizens of Philippines who are in the U.S.
on E-2 visas will be entitled to carry the U.S. passport
— a strong travel document — by virtue of American
birthright citizenship.
A child born to Swiss parents or even an unmarried
Swiss mother, for example, is automatically a Swiss
national. But a child who grew up and lived all her
life in Switzerland, in addition to perfectly speaking
Alemmanic, the Swiss dialect of German and other
Swiss languages, may find it difficult to be granted
Swiss nationality if she was born to non-Swiss parents.
A Swiss passpor t remains one of the world’s most
unique passpor ts in that it does not indicate the
passpor t bearer ’s place of bir th. Heimator t, or the
place of origin, mentioned on S wiss passpor ts is
dif ferent from the place of bir th and is not to be
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