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There is a list of the 'most powerful' passports which afford the holder visa-free access to the most countries. For now the top prizes are held by Singapore and Germany.

I was intrigued to note that:

As of December 2017, Mauritius, Seychelles, Serbia and Grenada are the only countries whose citizens may travel without a visa to China, Russia and the Schengen Area.

Holding a Mauritius passport allows visa-free access to much of Africa, but not so much of South America. Grenada is the opposite, not surprisingly.

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Further, it's possible to get Grenadian and Serbian passports relatively inexpensively (<1/4 the cost of an average house in Toronto anyway) via investment.

So which two passports (that are not mutually exclusive, ie that can legally be held by a single person) would allow access to the most countries visa-free?

Spehro Pefhany
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    Is it required that both passports can be hold by a single person? Many countries do not allow dual citizenships. – Neusser Jan 07 '18 at 22:47
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    Yes, for a single person. I'll add that to the question. Good point. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 07 '18 at 22:50
  • Should the answer analyze the savings in visa fees against the cost of obtaining the additional citizenship? – phoog Jan 07 '18 at 23:00
  • @phoog no just the number of countries.. that's got a definite answer. But any extra comments are welcome. Not all countries are equally interesting or important but maybe that will be visible in any answers- I didn't want to make it too complicated by asking about population or income weighted quantity. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 07 '18 at 23:23
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    Visa-free only, or including visas on arrival? – Crazydre Jan 07 '18 at 23:55
  • @Coke Visa-free. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 08 '18 at 00:00
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    I'm unsure whether doing research to answer this question (which is required) even makes sense since the "best passport" may change overnight, and the answer is no longer valid/useful. Voting to close. – George Y. Jan 08 '18 at 00:46
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    @GeorgeY. Reasonable concern, and I respect your opinion, but I think that the best passport pair will not tend to change quickly in comparison to other subjects discussed here. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 08 '18 at 01:25
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    Technically, I can also visit all of China, Russia and the Schengen Area without a visa. (Australian Citizen, with an APEC Business Travel Card) – Doc Jan 08 '18 at 06:31
  • @Doc I was really looking forward to that.. years ago.. but they're really dragging their feet on getting it fully going in North America. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 08 '18 at 07:01
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    @Doc this would require you getting it annotated for all those countries, which is not possible at all if you're the US citizen, and not much different from getting a long term business visa if you are not. In fact in USA it is much easier and faster to get a Chinese visa (get it next day, valid for 10 years) than an APEC card. – George Y. Jan 09 '18 at 01:44
  • @SpehroPefhany it can change overnight once Palau or Vanuatu introduces visa-free requirement to your passport. Look at your own article - Singaporean passport became the best because it got visa-free access to Paraguay - something which would hardly make news, and probably making little difference for most Singaporeans anyway. – George Y. Jan 09 '18 at 01:46
  • @GeorgeY. There's zero additional effort to get approved for each country with an ABTC card, as long as you're from a country that is an actual real member (which does NOT include the US) – Doc Jan 09 '18 at 02:15
  • @Doc do they just take your word for that when you tell them you want it annotated for "all APEC member countries"? I was told each country would have to "vet" you separately and run you through an approval process which is not different from getting an actual visa (i.e. check for past visa violations, public security lists etc). – George Y. Jan 10 '18 at 03:13
  • Each country vets you individually, but there is no additional effort on behalf of the applicant for that process. – Doc Jan 10 '18 at 04:22

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