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Which passport is best to travel on? I had a bit of bother with police corruption in northern China when they assumed we were Russians, but the NZ passport magi

Which passport is best to travel on? I had a bit of bother with police corruption in northern China when they assumed we were Russians, but the NZ passport magically made it all go away.

contingencies 11y ago
I have NZ/AU/DE. In general NZ passports are better than Australian, particularly for many Muslim countries, but also for many other places like India, where NZ'ers get visa on arrival. Inexplicably to my knowledge, the reverse was true a few years ago for Tunisia, where Australians had an easier time than Kiwis. Re: police corruption in northern China, I suspect that you may have misinterpreted the situation. Documentation checks for foreigners nearing or leaving border regions are standard in China, I live there and have been through tens of them.
- disordinary 11y ago
  No, we were pulled into the police station in Harbin after being set up by a taxi driver, they had a Russian translator there for us. When we pulled out the NZ passports the police officer started yelling at the taxi driver and we were herded out of the station. So it seems fairly clear that it was some sort of setup to try and get Russian tourists (who are potentially used to corruption). Or maybe they just don't like Russian's and pull them in to check them out. We also had issues crossing the border from Blagoveshensk to Hei Hei, but that was because the officer at the border (and this was all from body language, there were no translators or anything like that) was not convinced that the NZ passports were not fakes, probably they don't see much variety on that particular border crossing.
pparkkin 11y ago
According to this[1], that would be Finland, Sweden, Germany, and UK. I remember they used to provide the full list too, but now that seems to be behind a registration process, which I don't wish to go through. [1] https://www.henleyglobal.com/international-visa-restrictions/ https://www.henleyglobal.com/international-visa-restrictions...
- harryc2011 11y ago
  The 2014 list is here: https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/download/hvri/HP%20Visa%20Restrictions%20Index%20141101.pdf https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/download/hvri/HP%20Visa%2...

Which passport is best to travel on? I had a bit of bother with police corruption in northern China when they assumed we were Russians, but the NZ passport magically made it all go away.

contingencies 11y ago

I have NZ/AU/DE. In general NZ passports are better than Australian, particularly for many Muslim countries, but also for many other places like India, where NZ'ers get visa on arrival. Inexplicably to my knowledge, the reverse was true a few years ago for Tunisia, where Australians had an easier time than Kiwis. Re: police corruption in northern China, I suspect that you may have misinterpreted the situation. Documentation checks for foreigners nearing or leaving border regions are standard in China, I live there and have been through tens of them.

disordinary 11y ago
No, we were pulled into the police station in Harbin after being set up by a taxi driver, they had a Russian translator there for us. When we pulled out the NZ passports the police officer started yelling at the taxi driver and we were herded out of the station. So it seems fairly clear that it was some sort of setup to try and get Russian tourists (who are potentially used to corruption). Or maybe they just don't like Russian's and pull them in to check them out. We also had issues crossing the border from Blagoveshensk to Hei Hei, but that was because the officer at the border (and this was all from body language, there were no translators or anything like that) was not convinced that the NZ passports were not fakes, probably they don't see much variety on that particular border crossing.

pparkkin 11y ago

According to this[1], that would be Finland, Sweden, Germany, and UK. I remember they used to provide the full list too, but now that seems to be behind a registration process, which I don't wish to go through. [1] https://www.henleyglobal.com/international-visa-restrictions/ https://www.henleyglobal.com/international-visa-restrictions...

harryc2011 11y ago
The 2014 list is here: https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/download/hvri/HP%20Visa%20Restrictions%20Index%20141101.pdf https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/download/hvri/HP%20Visa%2...