Micrasian Passport and Visa Index
The Micrasian Passport and Visa Index is a project launched by researchers at the Government department of the University of Svorgas, who were investigating the visa policies of various Micrasian states. The index was released in the week day of 1692 AN, and ranks and evaluate the various visa policies of Micrasian states.
Methodology
The researchers looked at all 48 member states of the MCS. The researchers looked at the visa requirements that governments placed on foreign citizens visiting their country, but ignored any scenarios in which a nation placed restrictions on their own citizens from travelling to other countries. The researchers only looked at the standard normal passport from each country, excluding passports that are held by autonomous territories or peoples, or of diplomatic/state passports.
The data was gathered from a variety of sources, including government websites and interviews with government officials. For some smaller nations with little diplomatic contact with Senya, some guesswork was required. The study also concluded that it was able to gain the information from every nation in part due to Senya's policy of neutrality and good standing in the international community.
Status of the Bassarid Periphery
Although the individual nations of the Bassarid Periphery issue their own passports, the report bundled these nations together as the Bassarid Periphery due to many nations, particularly those outside of the USSO, having a singular policy for all of these states. In the few situations in where there are discrepancies, the policies for citizens of the Iron Cult of Leng are taken.
Status of Elwynn and Amokolia
At the time of the survey, the separatist Republic of Elwynn and Amokolia was enjoying de facto independence. However, this state was only recognised by Calbion and Kalgachia, and as such was ignored in the survey.
Indexes pertaining to passport power
Two indexes were compiled alongside the main Passport Power Index; a rank of how many nations each passport got visa free access to, and a rank of how many nations each passport holder was prohibited from. The prohibited list focused entirely on governments who had policies to not allow any citizen from a nation to enter as a matter of policy, rather than nations that regularly denied visa applications from that country.
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Micras Passport Power Index
The Micras Passport Power Index was made by calculating a score for each nation based off a value for each requirement from other nations. An individual country's score was the combined total of visa requirements from all the 47 other nations on the planet.
| Points | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 4 | Freedom of movement |
| 3 | Visa free |
| 2 | Visa on arrival |
| 1 | Visa |
| 0 | Travel prohibited |
This formula allowed for nations in free trade groups, such as the Raspur Pact, USSO and the Xäiville Convention to score highly, with the best ranked nation outside of these three organisations being the Thraci Confederation, who placed 22nd, whilst the lowest ranked members of these organisations were the Bassarid Periphery and Jingdao, who scored joint 24th place. This meant that, excluding the Thraci Confederation, every other nation which is not a part of a free trade alliance ranked below every nation that is a member.
In particular, the scores from the Raspur Pact members were considerably higher than the others, due to the larger number of member states. That said, Mercury, Senya and Craitland all ranked inside the top 10.
The bottom of the list was a mix of nations with limited and somewhat isolationist policies. Nations such as Arbor, Calbion and Graecia additionally had lower scores due to their poor relations with the Raspur Pact states in particular, many of whom had banned citizens of these nations from entering.
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Findings
The findings found that citizens of Alduria-Wechua enjoyed the greatest visa benefits from their passport, despite being barred from entering Arbor and Graecia. Of the passport holders that can travel to every country, Mercurian citizens fared best. On the other side, citizens of Arbor had the weakest passport by every metric.
Whilst the Raspur Pact and the USSO's areas of free movement propelled their member states up the rankings, both suffered from politically motivated bannings, though it should be noted these often came from Arbor and Calbion, rather than members of their rival pact. Meanwhile, none of the signatories of the Xäiville Convention are banned from any country, comprising 5 of the 8 nations who aren't.
Another interesting point is that no nation prohibited more than five other nations from entering, with the exception of three; Arbor (who prohibit 14 nationalities from entering), Calbion (who prohibit 21) and Constancia (who prohibit 26). Calbion has a selective and rigorous foreign policy, enjoying strong relationships with several countries but also having an advesarial relationship with the Raspur and USSO member states. Whilst Arbor be considered a "pariah" state that has little diplomatic contact with other nations, particularly of the major alliances of the world, Constancia, a Raspur Pact member, are the only nation who out of course prohibit nationals of nations they do not recognise from visiting their country.
On the flip side, four nations; Craitland, Goëtia, the International Mandate and Zeed, provide visa free access to every other nationality on Micras. However, it should be noted that in Goëtia this is due to the lack of formal border enforcement, and as such foreign nationals may not necessarily be welcome. Using the same scoring system as the Micras Passport Power Index, Craitland can be judged to have the most liberal visa scheme on Micras.
International reactions to the findings
Senya: The government of Senya hailed the findings as "proof of Senya's good standing in the world" and noted that the Senyan people should be "proud of their placement". Furthermore, the Senyan government hailed the success of the Xäiville Convention as a beacon of Democracy, Stability and Human Rights.
Calbion: A short press-release from the Calbain government stated that "the large majority of states on Micras are subject to perversions, dictatorial oppression or other depravities. No upright Calbain man or woman would want to visit those places anyway". And clarified that "Calbion enjoys strong relations of friendship with those states that share our values". The government also criticised the researchers for their "obvious bias" in not recognising the Republic of Elwynn and Amokolia.
Floria: Florian officials praised the research strongly agreeing that the index was a great measure of international diplomacy.
Hurmu: The Foreign Affairs Service of Hurmu lamented that most Raspur Pact countries still had not implemented the Hurmu–Raspur Pact Free Trade Agreement which would allow visa-free access for Hurmu citizens to all of the Raspur Pact. The failure of the RP states to implement their legal duty under the Agreement made that Hurmu travellers were faced with unnecessary hardships while travelling.
Mercury: The President of Mercury, Nick Perry, expressed a desire to eliminate the need for visas for all travel to and from Mercury by the end of 2021.
Sanama: The Sanama Department of Foreign Affairs commented that the high ranking of the Sanaman passport was a positive consequence of Sanaman diplomatic efforts.
South Sea Islands: Commenting on the findings, the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of the South Sea Islands said, "Tourists of every nationality are welcome to visit the South Sea Islands. While we don't offer or receive visa-free travel in most instances, we feel that the current policy balances national security with the renowned welcome that tourists can expect to receive when visiting our islands".
Unified Governorates: The Political Directorate of Benacia Command described the UGB's placement at 13th on the index a "stinging rebuke to all those who level the unfounded accusation of tyranny against the defenders of Benacian sovereignty."
