For the first time since the Henley Passport Index was created 20 years ago, the United States is no longer ranked amongst the world’s Top 10 most powerful passports.
For the first time since the Henley Passport Index was created 20 years ago, the United States is no longer ranked amongst the world’s Top 10 most powerful passports. Once unrivalled at No.1 in 2014, the American passport has now slumped to 12th place, tied with Malaysia, with visa-free access to only 180 of 227 destinations worldwide. The Asian trifecta of Singapore (access to 193 destinations visa-free), South Korea (190 destinations), and Japan (189 destinations) now occupy the top three spots on the index powered by exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ranking all the world’s passports based on the number of destinations their holders can enter without a prior visa.
The decline of the US passport and its most recent drop from 10th to 12th position on the index has been driven by a series of access changes. The loss of visa-free access to Brazil in April due to a lack of reciprocity, and the US being left out of China’s rapidly expanding visa-free list, marked the start of its downward slide. This was followed by adjustments from Papua New Guinea and Myanmar, which further eroded the US score while boosting other passports. Most recently, Somalia’s launch of a new eVisa system and Vietnam’s decision to exclude the US from its latest visa-free additions delivered the final blow, pushing it out of the Top 10.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and creator of the Henley Passport Index, says these seemingly small changes have had outsized consequences — underscoring just how finely balanced the global mobility landscape has become. “The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade is more than just a reshuffle in rankings — it signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics. Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind.”
Similarly, the UK passport has fallen to its lowest-ever position on the index, slipping two places since July, from 6th to 8th place, despite also once holding the top spot (in 2015).
Visa Reciprocity Matters More
While American passport holders can currently access 180 destinations visa-free, the US itself allows only 46 other nationalities to enter without a visa. This puts it way down in 77th place on the Henley Openness Index, which ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry to without a prior visa.
This disparity between visa free access and openness is one of the widest globally — second only to Australia, and just ahead of Canada, New Zealand, and Japan. Interestingly, all five nations with the biggest gaps between the travel freedom they enjoy and the openness they offer have either stagnated or declined in their passport power ranking over the past decade.
Annie Pforzheimer, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, notes that America’s retreat is rooted in politics. “Even before a second Trump presidency, US policy had turned inward. That isolationist mindset is now being reflected in America’s loss of passport power.”
This more insular stance has hit developing nations particularly hard. President Trump has suspended visa issuance to travelers from 12 nations across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, imposed heavy restrictions on an additional seven, and threatened bans on up to 36 more, the majority of them in Africa. A visa bond of USD 5,000 to 15,000 now applies to seven African nations, refundable only upon departure. Plans are also underway to introduce a blanket USD 250 ‘visa integrity fee’ for most non-immigrant visa applications, while the cost of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) nearly doubled on 30 September 2025, from USD 21 to USD 40.
China’s Ascent: A Decade of Gains
In sharp contrast, China has been among the biggest climbers on the Henley Passport Index over the past decade, leaping from 94th place in 2015 to 64th in 2025, with its visa-free access score increasing by 37 destinations during that time.
On the Henley Openness Index, China has also risen dramatically, granting visa-free access to an additional 30 countries in the past year alone. It now sits in 65th position, providing entry to 76 nations — 30 more than the US.
Recent developments, including granting visa free access to Russia, underscore Beijing’s ongoing strategy of increased openness. China’s moves — alongside new agreements with the Gulf states, South America, and several European countries — are cementing its role as a global mobility powerhouse, bolstering the Asia-Pacific region’s dominance in travel freedom.
Dr. Tim Klatte, Partner at Grant Thornton China, highlights the geopolitical implications. “Trump’s return to power has bought fresh trade conflicts that weaken America’s mobility, while China’s strategic openness boosts its global influence. These diverging paths will reshape economic and travel dynamics worldwide.”
Americans Lead Global Rush for Second Citizenships
The decline in US passport power is fueling an unprecedented surge in demand for alternative residence and citizenship options. Henley & Partners data shows that Americans have become by far the largest group of applicants for investment migration programs in 2025.
By the end of Q3, applications from US nationals were already 67% higher than the total for 2024, which itself recorded a 60% year-on-year increase. Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, Dominic Volek, says the firm now has more American clients than the next four nationalities — Turkish, Indian, Chinese, and British — combined. “Faced with unprecedented volatility, investors and wealthy American families are adopting a strategy of geopolitical arbitrage to acquire additional residence and citizenship options. They are hedging against jurisdictional risk and leveraging differences across countries to optimize personal, financial, and lifestyle outcomes.”
Prof. Peter J. Spiro of Temple University Law School in Philadelphia says while US citizenship remains a valuable status, it’s no longer good enough as a standalone. “In coming years, more Americans will be acquiring additional citizenships in whatever way they can. Multiple citizenship is being normalized in American society. While it may be a bit of an exaggeration, as one social media poster recently put it, “dual citizenship is the new American dream”.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors
About the 2025 Henley Passport Index
With cutting-edge expert commentary and historical data spanning over 20 years, the Henley Passport Index is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. Originally created by Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, the ranking is based on exclusive and official Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and it is enhanced by extensive, ongoing research by the Henley & Partners Research Department.
Along with the Kälin – Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index, it is considered a major tool for global citizens and the standard reference for government policy in this field.
About Henley & Partners
Henley & Partners is the global leader in residence and citizenship planning. Each year, hundreds of wealthy individuals and their advisors rely on our expertise and experience in this area. The firm’s highly qualified professionals work together as one team in over 70 offices worldwide.
The concept of residence and citizenship planning was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalization has expanded, residence and citizenship have become topics of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors whom we proudly serve every day.
Henley & Partners also runs the world’s leading government advisory practice for wealth migration, which has raised more than USD 15 billion in foreign direct investment. Trusted by governments, the firm has been involved in strategic consulting and in the design, set-up, and operation of the world’s most successful residence and citizenship programs.
Media Contact
For further information, please contact:
Sarah NicklinGroup Head of Public Relations & Communications
sarah.nicklin@henleyglobal.com
+27 72 464 8965
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Comments
For the full context, it looks like Henley & Partners is providing services like obtaining second citizenship, so it's in their best interest to highlight the US passport "decline". Further down they say "Americans Lead Global Rush for Second Citizenships", which just happens to be the thing they are selling.
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1519:463 reply Henley's index ranks America 12th, with 180 visa-free destinations [1]. The Global Passport Power Rank 2025 ranks America 9th, with 168...MS [2].
Maybe they count destinations differently?
By riffraff 2025-10-1520:24 they do, you can see "American Samoa", "Bonaire; St. Eustatius and Saba", "French West Indies" etc in Henley's rank, for example.
By yencabulator 2025-10-1616:39 Not 9th. Of rank 9. There's 40 countries ranking higher than USA there.
By lawlessone 2025-10-1521:19 Interesting. Not the exact same but most of countries i've checked in both come out near the same spot.
I wish there was an index where not all countries are weighted equally, but according to their desirability. Multiply each country by some factor which is defined by how many people would list it as their desirable destination. The index where France and Tuvalu are both counted equally makes no sense to me, with all due respect to the latter.
It really depends what you desire. For some it's the savoir vivre, for others it may be the lack of an extradition treaty, or the taxes.
While the desire itself is subjective, the question "how many people would like to visit the country X out of a million" is objective.
By qsera 2025-10-163:10 > out of a million
The answer could change depending on how you select the million people you are asking this question to.
By throw57396 2025-10-1519:522 reply “When a metric ceases to match a target, invent a new measure.”
with apologies to Goodhart.
I mean, a major reason the US fell in the ranks is because Brazil has stopped giving the US, Canada, and Australia visa-free access, Vietnam didn't include the US in the list of countries it chose to extend visa-free access to, Venezuela has extended visa-free access to a number of EU and EFTA members, and Papua New Guinea extended visa-free access to a number of nations recently. Also, the UK has begun enforcing the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on all countries excluding Ireland, which means the UK is no longer visa free.
The UK's ranking fell for similar reasons as well.
If not having visa-free access to PNG or Venezuela is a metric, it's not a fairly relevant metric, or at least a very lossy metric.
Yeah! What a useless metric. Who would want to go to China, Brazil or Vietnam when you can visit Cincinnatti! /s
Why should Americans, Canadians, or Europeans get visa free access to China, Brazil, or Vietnam when Chinese, Brazilian, and Vietnamese nationals need to get visas to visit America, Canada, or Europe?
Brazilians have visa on arrival in Schengen, so Europeans get visa on arrival in Brazil in reciprocity.
Didn't realize Brazil has Schengen access! That's wild (in a good way)!
Out of curiosity, why don't we see the same degree of Brazilian immigration to the EU then versus the US?
Is it solely economic (ie. a Brazilian accountant is more likely to demand a salary significantly higher that that back in Brazil by moving to the US versus an EU state)?
By piva00 2025-10-168:14 > Out of curiosity, why don't we see the same degree of Brazilian immigration to the EU then versus the US?
There are a lot of Brazilians in the EU, most have legal residency through heritage (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian are quite common 2nd passports) or through work visas.
You can't discount the huge influence the USA has over Latin America, and specially over Brazil, people look up to the USA as a benchmark/role model, many Brazilians dream of "making it" by moving to the USA; Brazilians also suffer a huge influence from the consumerist aspect of the USA, they want to have nice cars (which are cheaper relative to salaries than in Brazil), they want to buy electronics that are expensive in Brazil: consoles, computers, phones, they want to buy clothing that is considered expensive in Brazil, there's a quite markedly status-chasing aspect of Brazilian society that mimics the American one. Brazil was somewhat molded according to the USA: car-dependent, consumerist, etc. so a lot of Brazilians believe that the USA is what Brazil "could be" if it was richer.
There are many support groups from past immigrants to help out settling in the USA, it's also much easier to live in the USA undocumented than in most of the EU: in the USA there's no centralised identification at the federal level, in the EU most countries require you to have a tax ID to do most of the basic bureaucracies you need to settle.
It's a confluence of factors that make Brazilian immigration into the USA very different than into the EU. From my experience most Brazilians in the EU are high-skilled immigrants or have a second citizenship or are spouses of natives/citizens.
By brazukadev 2025-10-160:04 > Out of curiosity, why don't we see the same degree of Brazilian immigration to the EU then versus the US?
There's actually an estimated ~2 million Brazilians in the EU and also in the US (out of 220 millions)
By IT4MD 2025-10-1612:48 We had him over for dinner last night. He said he was find with this.
By regnull 2025-10-1521:02 Here's my attempt (ChatGPT deep research). Each country is weighted by a factor derived from the tourism data:
https://chatgpt.com/share/68f00ad0-a9fc-800e-abac-584703b92a...
And the results:
Tier 1 — Global Leaders (Scores 98–100)
Singapore — 100
Germany — 99
France — 99
Italy — 99
Spain — 99
Japan — 99
South Korea — 99
Switzerland — 98
Finland — 98
Sweden — 98
Denmark — 98
Netherlands — 98
Norway — 98
Belgium — 98
Austria — 98
Ireland — 98
Portugal — 98
Greece — 98
Luxembourg — 98
Hungary — 98
Malta — 98
Liechtenstein — 98
Tier 2 — High Mobility with Minor Gaps (Scores 94–97)
Poland — 97
United Arab Emirates — 96
United States — 95
United Kingdom — 94
Canada — 94
Australia — 93
New Zealand — 93
Tier 3 — Strong Regional Power Passports (Scores 85–93)
Czech Republic — 92
Iceland — 92
Slovenia — 91
Estonia — 90
Latvia — 89
Lithuania — 89
Slovakia — 88
Chile — 87
Malaysia — 87
Israel — 86
Given the recent changes to American policy I know people with American passports who are worried they can't even go back into the United States.
Ever since 9/11 it's been harder for non-whites. That was long before any of this. I won't even bother now. It's not worth my freedom.
I was harassed and detained every single time I went back. Always something different, never anything to actually do with who I actually am or anything I actually did or didn't do.
Do you have any data to back this claim up or are you just stating your opinion?
I was routinely detained at passport control because there was a bad guy with my same name. It took some amount of time and being very polite to get me out of that.
I know a guy who shares a name with a one legged IRA bomber. One would think there would be some effort disambiguate name collisions. In this case a three year old could probably do it. Let’s see. One, two. Not the guy!!!
By ceejayoz 2025-10-1520:22 Ironically, a three year old can be on the list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fly_List#False_positives
> Numerous children (including many under the age of five, and some under the age of one) have generated false positives.
And at least on one occasion, a sitting US Senator: https://www.theregister.com/2004/08/19/senator_on_terror_wat...
It's been harder for people of middle eastern descent but that's about it. I'm nonwhite and have flown a lot and never had any issues. My friend is arab, hipster girl born in LA, and she always gets selected for screening.
By tamimio 2025-10-160:18 I know it's normal to criticize the US now being like that, but the reality is, this is a shared vision among the 5-Eyes countries if you dig deeper. It just happens that the US is very outspoken about it. In Canada, for example as I read a couple weeks ago, individuals "having some sort of geopolitical proximity to a concern of Canada" are being put under the microscope and seen as guilty until proven otherwise, primarily from the Middle East (or West Asia if you don't like that terminology), despite the fact that there was no 9/11 or similar event to trigger any reaction, and how’s that a “proximity concern” to Canada.
https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/08/06/immigration-lawyers-s...
By undeveloper 2025-10-1520:011 reply I have had some issues as someone of Indian decent despite having an American accent and native born.
By nirav72 2025-10-160:48 Whats the most common reason they’ve harnessed you over? Just wondering if they’re going based on prior issue on file? I’m of Indian descent , born and raised in the U.S - I must be the lucky one. Because I’ve never had any issues. Entering back in the country has been trouble free so far. Have you thought about signing up for global entry. Recently signed up for it myself and now I just skip talking to a human (and waiting in line)
Ok, so.. I don't know how to say this without sounding insensitive, but I'm a pretty traditional looking (albeit perhaps short) British, blue-eyed, white guy.
I have seriously never had a positive interaction with the US border force. Wether it's the TSA or another associated organisation (since I've been pestered by people who are not TSA).
I've been detained, questioned, randomly selected, given contradictory rules by different people, had things randomly confiscated and even been insulted.
I'm not confrontational, and I don't believe I stand out.
I have had exactly ONE positive interaction (in 2011) whereby I had accidentally travelled with a pocket knife in my checked luggage and due to the fact I was not allowed to check my luggage on the return journey (due to the train being delayed going into Newark; seriously, I understand why Americans distrust public transport) - I told the TSA agent about it and he was kind regarding it, offering condolences, but obviously destroying the knife.
I'm not sure if I'm on some kind of easing program to disincentivise me in particular from visiting the US, but I could easily see that if I was anything other than what I am in terms of race/religion/looks/citizenship: that I would presume that this was the reason.
And, for context, I've been to the US on average twice per year in the last 15 years, so this is my experience from around 30 trips, and 60-ish interactions with the international air apparatus.
It's a pretty decent country once I'm in though, though I wouldn't want to live there.
EDIT: I'm not sure why the parent is being downvoted, his anecdote is the same as mine.
Both things can be true; that it's on average a shitty experience, and that it's on average an even shittier experience for folks of certain demographics.
I genuinely can't understand how it can be shittier.
Unless they're taking liberties with your wife and children or something.
You can't imagine a shittier outcome for bringing a banned weapon into an airport than "I told the TSA agent about it and he was kind regarding it, offering condolences"?
That was my one positive interaction, and yes it could have gone a lot worse, as mentioned. 1/60 is not exactly batting a thousand.
Every other interaction, I can't imagine being worse. Rude, tense, confusing, authoritarian with arbitrary detainment - with no acknowledgement of time or empathy for your own obligations (to board the plane for example); and heaven help you if you express your frustration.
By ceejayoz 2025-10-1519:58 > Every other interaction, I can't imagine being worse. Rude, tense, confusing and authoritarian; and heaven help you if you express your frustration.
https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/i...
"Yet in these suits, innocent women — including minor girls — who were not found with any contraband say CBP officers subjected them to harsh interrogation that led to indignities that included unreasonable strip searches while menstruating to prohibited genital probing. Some women were also handcuffed and transported to hospitals where, against their will, they underwent pelvic exams, X-rays and in one case, drugging via IV, according to suits. Invasive medical procedures require a detainee’s consent or a warrant. In two cases, women were billed for procedures."
By kragen 2025-10-1523:46 > Every other interaction, I can't imagine being worse.
Oh, I can help you with that!
> Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way home to Canada from a family vacation in Tunis.[1] He was held without charges in solitary confinement in the United States for nearly two weeks, questioned, and denied meaningful access to a lawyer.[1][2] The US government suspected him of being a member of Al Qaeda and deported him, not to Canada, his current home and the passport on which he was travelling, but to Syria.[3][4] He was detained in Syria for almost a year, during which time he was tortured by Syrian authorities, according to the findings of a commission of inquiry ordered by the Canadian government, until his release to Canada. The Syrian government later stated that Arar was "completely innocent."[5][6] A Canadian commission publicly cleared Arar of any links to terrorism, and the government of Canada later settled out of court with Arar. He received C$10.5 million and Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized to Arar for Canada's role in his "terrible ordeal."[7][8] Arar's story is frequently referred to as "extraordinary rendition" but the US government insisted it was a case of deportation.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar
Hopefully, given that little intuition pump, you can also imagine that he could have died from the torture instead of ever returning home.
By guerrilla 2025-10-1520:52 Exactly. This is what I mean.
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1519:424 reply > I have seriously never had a positive interaction with the US border force. Wether it's the TSA or another associated organisation (since I've been pestered by people who are not TSA)
The trick is to pay to not interact. Global Entry, TSA PreCheck with Digital ID, et cetera.
And for the record, I'm dark-eyed and brown skinned. There are absolutely racists in the Trump administration. But they don't seem to have co-opted this element yet. Instead, it just presents the classic American preference for wealth.
(Note: I'm not endorsing the system. TSA PreCheck makes sense; the fee for it does not. Same for Global Entry.)
These days at many airports, precheck has the same procedures as normal screening. You keep your shoes on, laptops and liquids stay in the bag, and you don't show a boarding pass. And the lines are the same length.
Global entry is a real difference, but you need to travel internationally quite a bit to make the application/renewal process worth it (conditional approval backlog is 12-24 months now, although it seems you skip to the front just in time to do interview-on-arrival on your next trip).
By nirav72 2025-10-1620:54 by the way - You can use Global Entry ID# for precheck during domestic travel. My precheck was expiring and I had called specifically for a question. Their support person told me that since I recently signed up for global entry, I didn't need to get precheck. So even if you don't travel internationally often, but might - then its worth it to get Global entry. Of course if you don't plan on ever travelling outside of the U.S ,then yeah no reason to get it.
By more_corn 2025-10-1520:14 I call it the travel bribe. It excuses you from security theater. If you have an airline credit card they also reimburse the cost of the bribe.
By hitarpetar 2025-10-1520:081 reply you meant to write unequal treatment for the wealthy right?
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1520:33 > you meant to write unequal treatment for the wealthy right?
Yes. I'm not endorsing the system. Just stating why folks on HN might be having wildly different experiences.
Broadly speaking, if you have to interact with border control or airport security, you're going to have a bad time. The stupid, lazy and mean are overrepresented in their ranks. You may have a slightly-worse time with particularly physical affects. But I've absolutely watched my British-accented white friend from Atlanta get singled out every time for fuckery by their TSA.
If, on the other hand, you get the unequal wealth treatment, you won't see a disparity. Because there isn't one. You're rarely interacting with a human being.
Ah yes, the “give in to the system” strategy to avoid the deliberate conditioning to force everyone into the panopticon.
One easy trick to world domination prison planet…
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1520:341 reply > the “give in to the system” strategy to avoid the deliberate conditioning to force everyone into the panopticon
I'm not sure what I'm giving up by ceding fingerprints and a picture to a government agency that almost certainly already has both.
By hopelite 2025-10-1612:40 It’s not the simple act of just “giving them what they likely already have” once that house booked about 20 years ago. And yes, I can sue you the government had way more on me, but I seem to at least realize that that stallion is long gone.
You seem to represent a rather is phenomenon in society though. For a lack of a better term at the moment; the shift or maybe even deliberate psychological manipulation of society, civilization, culture towards not only a passive, depressive state, but also a kind of self-harming, self-destructive, nihilistic state of “what does it even matter anymore” and “I probably deserve the abuse of my abusers” type of mentality. A variation of that is “I’m not sure what I’m giving up by ceding…” an odd fatalism.
Weird.
I look stereotypical MENA and haven't faced any extra screening, and I travel a lot for work both domestically and abroad, and I'm too lazy to get Global Entry or TSA Pre so I'm dealing with general TSA.
Did your friend maybe travel to an Arab country at some point in time that either faced significant instability, a country that borders Syria+Iraq, or to the West Bank via Jordan?
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1520:501 reply Out of curiosity, which airports do you travel through most?
By alephnerd 2025-10-1523:03 Domestically?
SFO, SeaTac, JFK, OHare, and ATX, with a decent showing for Logan, DCA, and RTP.
By TitaRusell 2025-10-1519:43 [flagged]
By pixelatedindex 2025-10-1519:235 reply [flagged]
By techsupporter 2025-10-1519:30 > Everyone follows the same rules at the airport.
All travelers do but all border inspection people do not. Or if they do, they apply their discretion very unevenly in some Very Interesting Ways.
I've watched it happen twice since COVID, both times traveling abroad for work and coming back into the United States with coworkers (different coworkers each trip) who are not nearly as pale as I am. Neither of us had Global Entry or anything like that back then. Both times, I got waved through with barely a glance and my US-passport-holding coworker got grilled. "Where do you live", "why did you go on this trip", "who do you work for", and so on.
To reiterate: All of us are citizens, all of us were born here, and we were taking the exact same trips at the exact same times coming back with the usual things you take with you on a business trip.
Anecdotes from friends who are darker than a sheet of printer paper tell me this situation has not improved.
This kind of response is exactly what keeps racist systems like this going. No, it hasn't been the same for everyone.
By lolberal 2025-10-1519:30 [flagged]
By Refreeze5224 2025-10-1519:28 > Everyone follows the same rules at the airport.
No they don't. Everyone does whatever TSA tells them to do, which absolutely varies by airport, country, and especially physical appearance.
By jncfhnb 2025-10-1519:27 Global Entry disagrees
By Psillisp 2025-10-1519:29 I paid to not follow the same rules.
By joshuaheard 2025-10-1519:426 reply Under U.S. law (8 U.S.C. §1185(b)), an American citizen cannot be permanently barred from re-entering the country.
By tenacious_tuna 2025-10-1520:04 I'm an American living outside the US. While this is true it feels a bit like how pedestrians have the right-of-way at road crossings: you're legally protected, but is right now the time to test how much people are going to respect that?
I crossed the US-Canada land border with a non-US friend to go to a birthday party a while back; they sent us to secondary so my friend could get their passport stamped (their previous visa had run out). CBP took the opportunity to search our car and tried to convince us they found weed before letting us go (neither of us use it).
Another time my wife and I (both citizens) were crossing and the border agent gave us a hard time for having different last names.
I can't imagine what it's like for people with less privilege than I, but I'm already to the point where I stress about crossing the border. I bring a spare phone, wiped of anything interesting, I let my partners know when I'm at the crossing in case something happens; Paranoid? Possibly. But the potentiality of something going horribly wrong is through the roof, and there's increasingly little recourse. Yes, citizens especially should be insulated from this, but we're seeing egregious violations on so many fronts I don't want to trust that to hold.
By ethagnawl 2025-10-1520:00 Yes.
And, yet, the CBP can cause you any number of headaches and subject you to intimidation and humiliation prior to your actually being waved through -- especially if they deem you "difficult".
Similar to lots of the other comments in this thread, I'm subjected to additional screenings every time I come back into the country. I'm a completely average middle-aged white guy and I have no idea why this happens. Is it because I'm anxious? I have a somewhat common name; perhaps they've confused me with someone else? Was it because I was at Schipol the same time as The Underwear Bomber or because I went to Turkey on vacation? I will (probably) never know why but it's so unpleasant that I've stopped leaving the country for fun (something I used to love) and has had a real, negative effect on my relationship with my spouse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki would probably beg to differ.
By huevosabio 2025-10-1520:04 Had no b idea about this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten all about that. Is yet another point as to why effectively the USA does not even actually exist anymore more is the Constitution valid.
Some may be confused by reading that or even scoff at it, but it’s really not any different than any other kind of fraud by deception where, e.g., you think you have a certain amount of assets with Bernie Madoff that make you rich, but in reality it’s all just fake and does not actually exist at all.
It’s just that Americans haven’t realized that their country has being defrauded out from under them, much like how the EU just snuck in and went from standardizing trade to co-opting democratic self-determination and just swiping national sovereignty out from under the people of Europe because the ruling class said “no take backs” and that’s just how it’s going to be now.
By lawlessone 2025-10-1523:181 reply >EU just snuck in and went from standardizing trade to co-opting democratic self-determination
Where did that happen?
By abenga 2025-10-178:04 Brexit talking point. Just move on.
By JohnFen 2025-10-1612:30 Given what's happening in the US (and especially with the supreme court), I don't have much faith that any law the government finds inconvenient or objectionable will be adhered to.
By tialaramex 2025-10-1520:19 There are a lot of little William Ropers in America. No mere law will get in the way of them doing what they think is good.
By drstewart 2025-10-1519:52 (Or you're Australian trying to get back into your country during a pandemic)
By eddythompson80 2025-10-1519:47 Hyperbole is a constitutionally protected right for all Americans.
By bruceb 2025-10-1520:11 Well they should stop worrying. They will be fine. I suggest they don't make MSNBC or similar as their only news outlet. (and yes same for people who only watch Fox news or Newsmax).
By JohnFen 2025-10-1519:20 I do as well.
By drstewart 2025-10-1519:51 [flagged]
By lolberal 2025-10-1519:29 [flagged]
You cannot actually deny entry of an American into America, at least not of a true naturally born American to at least one equally naturally born American parent and relatives, probably at least two more generations back.
People are not going to like hearing this, but everyone else who were merely made American citizens by process, has a bit of an increasingly minor risk of being denied entry if they or their first generation relative are deemed to have received their citizenship illicitly and or shown or even just accused of foreign ties, let alone any involvement of espionage or terrorism.
More likely is that even in cases of espionage and terrorism, the government would simply prefer permitting entry and then simply prosecuting people.
By lawlessone 2025-10-1521:40 >You cannot actually deny entry of an American into America
They can just say you aren't one, throw your passport in the bin and deport you to that prison in central America.
If you're lucky you'll have a family/lawyer that will notice you didn't get home and have the resources to get you back.
By JumpCrisscross 2025-10-1520:561 reply > You cannot actually deny entry of an American into America, at least not of a true naturally born American
What counts as natural born is constantly subject to fuckery. (The Citizenshop Clause is all the Constitution has to say on citizenship, and it doesn’t directly address either naturalization or revocation.)It took Congress in 1924 to admit American Indians are born in America [1]. Meanwhile, we've created de facto exemptions on the positive side for e.g. John McCain [2] and Ted Cruz [3].
A future Congress (or potentially just the President, under Trump's precedents) could absolutely vote to strip citizenship from e.g. dual nationals or people who have travelled to this or that country.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Citizenship_Act
[2] https://hls.harvard.edu/bibliography/why-john-mccain-was-a-c...
[3] https://hls.harvard.edu/bibliography/why-john-mccain-was-a-c...
By hopelite 2025-10-1612:55 You clearly have a strong bias, so I’m not sure it makes any sense in even engaging in conversation with you.
But to at least offer you some salvation from the memes you hold, as much as I didn’t like him, McCain was clearly a natural citizen as a function of his jus sanguinis birth to a legitimate American father. That is not an exception.
Additionally, it was not “admitted that Indians are born in America” as much as Congress did a little bit of magic to sidestep the fact that “Indians” had what up until recently still were effectively sovereign nations, and in some ways they still are, but kind of more like legal black holes and loopholes that supersede American law that everyone else is suppressed to follow, i.e., super-Americans. They weren’t in fact born in America, because the various types of “Indian” territories were effectively not America, regardless of the stunted and dull, rudimentary grasp on history, politics, governance, and reality the average person has.
Ironically, objectively speaking, the recent full recognition of Indian theories as American land with full rights while giving up sooner of their freedom and independence is arguably the last act of actual “colonialism” in human history as a function of its connection to the past. But that kind of thing is totally lost to the general public that has the ignorance of a bull in a China shop, and the maladjusted confidence of a redditor.
