Why you should have a 2nd passport in 2022

Freedom of international travel

Visa waivers (tourist visas) vary from country to country and by the passport that you hold.

Having multiple passports allows you flexibility in how you enter any particular country.

You might want to use your US passport for Europe and your Mexican passport for entry without a visa to mainland China for example.

When the next pandemic hits, one country may close their borders and another keeps theirs open. Having 2-3 passports gives you all kinds of flexibility on where you can go and how long you can stay.

Expanded Rights (and some responsibilities)

Being a citizen (and having a passport) of a country means you get a lot more rights than you do by simply being a resident.

For example, you can now work, own a business and open a bank account. You can vote in elections. Some countries like Japan only allow citizens to get cell phone numbers. These rights vary by country but they are greatly expanded when you are a citizen.

The responsibilities might include filing tax returns and other duties that apply to citizens only. These might seem a bit daunting but the life of an international person is going to be a bit more complex than those that live solely in one country. With a little bit of foresight and planning, things can be smooth.

Ability to Change Countries at Will

The only certainty in life is that things will change. And they are only going to change more rapidly in the digital future. You need to be ready to make adjustments when major world events happen.

When you only have one passport, you are at the mercy of your home country.

If you have 2-3 passports, you have 2-3 countries that you can play off of each other to find your optimum location(s) to live and stay. In addition to multiple passports, you can have additional residencies to go with them. Meaning you are a citizen of 2-3 countries and perhaps a resident of 1-2 more. You have 3-5 potential locations at your disposal.

Now you are prepared when world events shift (as they are guaranteed to do).

You can renounce a citizenship

If you have 2-3 citizenships (and passports), you have the option to give one of them up.

This is becoming more and more popular for US citizens. This is because the US has the worst tax system for ex pats that live in multiple countries. A recent study showed that 25% of ex pats are considering renouncing their US Citizenship due to a variety of reasons. Mostly taxation but some are concerned with the direction of the US economy and politics.

If you have one only citizenship, this is not an option for you.

How to pick a second or third passport

It all starts with the home country passport. What you choose for #2 depends on what you have for #1.

For most of our readers, they will have a top 20 passport already in a first world country (USA, Canada, Australian, UK, Germany, etc). These passports are considered top ones because they have the most amount of visa waivers available to their holders. For these folks, the next passport should be one that compliments their first one.

For those in the US, a good second passport is either a Mexican one or one from one of the Schengen countries of the EU. Lots of Americans have are the descendants of European countries.

For people with a home country in Central or South America, a Mexican one is great second passport. It only takes 2 years to get one and now you have 150+ countries with a visa waiver. Many South Americans also have ancestors from Europe and can get citizenship in a Schengen country.

Your second passport might come through wanting to live full time in a second country that you have come to love like Colombia or Portugal. If you intend to spend the majority of your time in this country in the next 10 years, you can get a full citizenship through naturalization in that time frame while enjoying living there.

All of this depends on what YOUR Dream Life looks like.

Why a Schengen passport is a good one

The Schengen Agreement is among the listed countries in the EU (not all are included). These countries are: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

This agreement allows for unrestricted travel between the Schengen countries if you have a Passport from one of the member countries or a Schengen visa. It also allows you to work, own a business and open a bank account in any of the member countries.

Your Schengen passport will come with a good number of visa waiver countries.

You can get one of these passports through Citizenship by Ancestry if you have any ancestors from one of these countries. Some Schengen countries have

Picking a second passport by taxation

If you are a high net worth individual, it can make a lot of sense to relocate your business and tax home to a low or no tax jurisdiction. Here’s the current list of no tax countries:

The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bermuda, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Kuwait, Maldives, Monaco, Nauru, Oman, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu. We left off a few like Somalia that aren’t really an option anyway.

There are also many countries like Hong Kong that have much lower taxes for foreigners or don’t take foreign income at all.

We don’t recommend locating only due to taxation unless there is a huge amount of money at stake.

We like to take the overall quality of life into account and factor LIMITING taxes in there. Our approach is that you’ll have to file and pay the man SOMEWHERE but going for zero taxes seems like too much effort most of the time. We prefer to minimize our taxes and get on with it.

Takeaways

In our opinion, you NEED at least 1 more passport in this day and age.

We do not like sitting there with only 1 passport in hand and at the mercy of 1 government. No government can be trusted with your freedom. Make sure you have the best options available at all times.