Are all passports equal?

By Donna B. McNicol -
A passport from the United States allows its citizens free access to 172 other countries.

But not all travelers have such an overwhelming spread of choices: Residents of Iraq, for example, can access only 31 countries with their passport. Venturing away from Afghanistan? Your options dwindle to 28 countries.

Ecuador gives you 74 countries, Iceland 175.

See the full infographic and more information here: Not All Passports Are Created Equal.

A side note, after three years in Ecuador on a valid immigrant Visa we would qualify for Ecuadorian citizenship. That would give us dual citizenship with the US and grant us permanent status here. At this point we don't see any reason to do so, the only benefit being no restrictions on being out of country.  Currently, after two years we can be out of country for up to 18 months at a time on our current Visa. In addition, the requirements are becoming more stringent for becoming a citizen. We don't disagree with it but spending $3-5k EACH and needing to be fluent in both reading and writing Spanish pretty much rule us out.

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