The Benefits of a Passport from a Latin American Country Nobody Gives a Fuck About

Over the last year or so, I've increasingly seen more and more people discuss the idea of getting a second passport, residency or even citizenship in other countries.

Granted, that was also around the time I started using Twitter and becoming aware that there's actually a lot of people who think this way.

But, on top of that, I'd say that the world events happening in that period likely encouraged more discussion around this topic also.

Those events primarily being Covid, more remote work allowing people to live abroad and also more Americans and Canadians than before having concerns about living in their countries for political reasons and wanting to leave (though I'd say those people, especially from the US, always existed).

For example, I know a guy from my hometown who is thinking of moving to Latin America also.

He's messaged me a few times and I've given some advice here and there regarding what he should be mindful of before attempting a move abroad.

He isn't necessarily just thinking about traveling abroad but is seemingly serious about having a life abroad.

So it is definitely a topic that comes up from time to time.

When considering though where you should live down here, there's obviously a wide range of factors that will influence your decision.

Personally, I don't really give a fuck how strong the second passport is when thinking about which country I want to move to.

Having said that, I was thinking about it today after reading the news and something crossed my mind.

A detail to consider for those who do want to think about the power of the second passport.

For those who are treating Latin America like its a region they can just pick whose passport they want to pick up.

Obviously, we all know about the importance of picking a more influential country that has better visa free access to x amount of countries.

There's an entire website dedicated to that which you can find here that tells you which countries have the stronger passports.

And, as I wrote here, you have men who wish to find a Latina to date down here and how they should be mindful that Latinas of some nationalities will have easier access into the US to see your family than Latinas of other nationalities.

Having said that, there's arguably one other detail to consider and it favors, to some degree, some of the countries here in Latin America that nobody gives a flying fuck about.

The Benefits of the Latin American Country Nobody Gives a Fuck About

As I was reading the news today, I came across a video that got me thinking.

I was watching a video about how a lot of countries seem to be shitting on the Russians.

Especially those in Europe.

As you can see here, normal Russians are finding it difficult to access the bank in other European countries.

You have calls in Finland as you can see here to restrict visas to people from Russia.

And so clearly, if you are a Russian citizen, you might find it difficult to do business elsewhere outside of your home country because so many people do give a fuck about Russia and its actions and that contributes to the decisions to limit the actions and movements of Russians abroad.

And, to be fair, the same could happen to the US in special circumstances.

As an American, I remember the days of having to pay extra for a visa to countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and I think Brazil.

Some of them -- including Argentina -- imposed some type of payment that we had to give to Argentina of somewhere over 100 bucks because the US seemingly had similar requirements for Argentinians.

It was called a reciprocity fee as you can see here.

And, to be fair, you had more leftist governments in control at that time who simply didn't like the US government.

Similarly, you had the EU recommend a travel ban for the US tourists during times of Covid due to the rising cases of Covid over there at one point as you can see here.

And, as you can see here, Turkey even banned all US tourists from visiting in 2017 after the US did something similar to Turkey.

Therefore, it's not like the US is immune from being a target of this behavior against us either.

Politics does change around the world and sometimes that means travel restrictions placed on a country that is very important in the world (like the US or Russia) and which pisses off other countries.

When those countries get mad at your country, shit happens.

And I'd argue that it is more likely if your country has importance when it comes to geopolitics.

Of course, a poorer country that nobody gives a fuck about also is more likely to perhaps have people trying to leave and become an illegal immigrant elsewhere.

Like Guatemala or Honduras for example.

In such cases, it might be that travel restrictions are placed on those poorer, nobody-gives-a-fuck-about countries.

Having said that, one could argue that some small countries that don't play a role in anything too geopolitical and don't offer too many illegal immigrants elsewhere might have at least one advantage when it comes to picking their country for your second passport.

And that is that this country isn't likely to piss off too many other countries around the world because nobody gives a fuck about them and so travel restrictions are less likely to be placed on them.

Within Latin America, one could argue that maybe a country that is overly to the left and does a lot of shit talking against the US would be a harder NO.

Some place like Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba for example.

Though it's not likely any of you reading this had plans to live in Venezuela and I highly doubt any Americans are thinking of that Cuba passport.

Though, thinking about it now, maybe a passport from a left leaning country that occasionally talks shit about the US isn't overly terrible?

Because said country -- unless its Cuba or Venezuela -- isn't likely to pose a national security challenge to the US ever.

But said country probably has better relations with countries that Americans would have a harder time entering due to visa restrictions.

If you're an American, obviously you don't have issues visiting countries that are friendly with the US.

It's those that don't which can pose a problem.

Let's look at Bolivia for example as you can see here.

Bolivia is a country that did a lot of shit talking against the US with its former President, Evo Morales as you can see here.

However, I'm not sure if the US ever gave too many fucks about Evo talking shit.

After all, Bolivia is a country few people give a fuck about.

Its main importance geopolitically and economically is its lithium reserves. 

However, Bolivia will never be used as a country to host weapons against the US like Cuba was in the Cold War.

They don't pose any military or national security risk to the US.

In regional Latin American politics, I'd say Bolivia doesn't have that much importance either.

You might get that occasional soundbite of Evo or any future leftist President talking shit about the US but few people really give a fuck.

So, using that last link I provided, we can see Bolivia does offer visa free access to countries that the US would need a visa for.

For example, we have the following countries (among others): Russia, Turkey, Iran and Qatar.

Of course, Bolivia also has visa free access to plenty of Latin American countries (so does the US).

Though, in the case of reciprocity fee, I am seeing online that supposedly countries like Argentina don't charge that to the US anymore.

But, given politics do change, I suppose that could always happen again and perhaps having a Latin American passport (Bolivia or whoever) might help get around that.

To be fair, you also have bigger countries that are nicer which offer visa free access to important countries in the world that the US doesn't have visa free access to.

For example, as you can see here, Brazil has visa free access to Russia and Turkey also.

However, like I said, picking a country with more global importance always raises the risk that said country might piss off a lot of countries and have travel restricted from the area.

Given all the shit that their current President, Bolsonaro, has gotten in the media for being right-wing and also due to concerns about the Amazon Rainforst, I could see backlash hitting Brazil in the future if that all continued.

Like if Bolsonaro won again perhaps or someone like him in the future.

Above all though, if we were to take this very seriously, I suppose actually it'd be ideal perhaps to have a country that meets three requirements:

1. It isn't sending too many illegal immigrants to other countries.

2. It's a country that few people have heard of or give a fuck about. It makes no waves whatsoever.

3. Perhaps it should be the case that said country isn't constantly picking sides on geopolitics in favor or against the US. One could argue that maybe that allows easier visa free access to countries like Russia but I'm not sure.

And I say "I'm not sure" to that because, as I look into more, I see two specific countries that offer similar visa free access to some of the same countries that the US can't offer to: Uruguay & Paraguay.

Both countries are countries that literally NOBODY gives a fuck about.

While Paraguay is poorer and maybe has sent some illegal immigrants to Argentina or something (if I had to guess), I never hear about it.

I guess it's probably OK on that front and I doubt Uruguay has the issue given it is one of the wealthier countries in Latin America.

I don't see either country making waves where it pisses off so much of the world to restrict their visa free travel.

They both offer visa free travel to some of the same countries that the US doesn't have visa free travel to, including Russia and Turkey (as you can see here for Uruguay and here for Paraguay).

Both don't have that sweet, sweet visa free access to Iran though.

Bolivia looking cool as fuck right now.

However, both Uruguay and Paraguay are part of Mercosur (which allows easier travel and whatever else to other Mercosur countries in South America).

Between the two, obviously it'd be easier to get residency (and, if I had to guess, the passport also) in Paraguay than in Uruguay.

When it comes to the overall passport strength of the three countries mentioned so far (Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay), we have this source here:

Uruguay is ranked #21, Paraguay is ranked #28 and Bolivia is ranked #58.

So, out of the three, a Uruguayan passport really is looking a lot better.

They probably send less illegal immigrants elsewhere given they are not as poor.

They don't make waves on a world scale and neither does Paraguay. Bolivia, on the other hand, did have a president doing some shit talking against the US and has lots of lithium that people care about.

Of course, we could look at the rest of Latin America and ask if there are any other countries worth considering.

If we wanted to stay away from countries that people give a fuck about, then I'd be cautious with Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Panama.

Obviously, I see both pros and cons of countries that act as enemies of the US, including Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Countries that send too many illegal immigrants are worry for concern like Guatemala or Honduras.

Even other countries like Ecuador and Brazil have issues with that as you can see here Mexico imposing travel restrictions on them.

We do have Peru and Chile.

Well, I'm not sure how many people give a fuck about Peru and Chile. They are more well known and talked about though than Uruguay and Paraguay.

After all, you had everyone and grandma seemingly talk about Chile's attempt to approve a new constitution (and failed) as you can see here.

But Chile has never seemed like the country to make too many waves geopolitically.

They have a bunch of copper so there is a lot of importance globally (similar to Bolivia and lithium or hydrocarbons).

But Chile doesn't send too many illegal immigrants elsewhere (if at all), they have never seemed to make too many waves in the last few decades that would piss people off but they do have some importance.

Though, if we were to add Chile to the list of the other 3 countries I considered (Bolivia, Uruguay and Paragauy), it should also be noted that, as you can see here, their passport strength is ranked #12.

Better than anyone else seen so far.

Still, while I did claim that maybe picking a country that is more hostile to the US could be better in terms of visa free access to countries that US citizens don't have, I also think that's a bit naive to think and already hinted at why. 

The Case for Uruguay & Paragauy: The Ultimate Countries that the US Gives No Fucks For

Before we go on, I should give proper credit in saying that the idea proposed in this article wasn't originally mine.

I mentioned earlier that I was watching a video.

And it was that video where I started contemplating this idea.

You can see it here.

Somewhere halfway into the video is where the idea of getting a passport from a "no name country" is proposed.

If I had to guess after looking into it briefly in the last 30 minutes, I'd say probably Paraguay is the best option for this idea within Latin America if you happen to be an American who doesn't have too much money but want a relatively easier second passport option from a country that fits this description.

If you happen to have more money for residency by investment, then maybe Uruguay.

Though I personally would prefer living in Chile over Uruguay for various reasons and couldn't see myself ever living in Uruguay, I'd recommend Uruguay here because it is a territorial tax country that doesn't tax your income from foreign sources.

Chile will and they just tried passing a new constitution that would definitely have increased government spending (which requires your tax dollars).

They also aren't a territorial tax country.

Though they do have a more powerful passport than Uruguay!

So I'd argue Paraguay is the better choice for the broke ass foreigners who can't afford residency beyond a 5000 dollar investment into a Paraguayan bank and some lawyer and travel costs.

Uruguay is for those rich billionaires flying in on private jets with Colombian putas.

And, when it comes to picking these two countries over all the other options in Latin America, there is one other thing to consider: issues with the US. 

The US has a long history of fucking with Latin America and that could complicate your life as an American living in that specific country.

Be it military intervention (like what we saw in Panama), a coup attempt (in so many countries of Latin America), an invasion (Mexico) or whatever the fuck else.

Could even just be a diplomatic issue like what the US had with Turkey in 2017.

Could such a diplomatic issue happen with some country down here?

Well, they had the reciprocity fee as mentioned before. Something like that or worse is never off the table.

In such a scenario where its more violent like with a military intervention, you might have to choose which of the two countries you are most loyal to and I'd pick the US any day and get the fuck out.

Even if I wasn't a US citizen who had to pick a side, I'd still get the fuck out of a country going through a military invasion.

I'm sure some of the territorial tax bros will disagree.

"No way brooo, got to save on those taxes! Ride or die in Panama, broooo!"

Still, the idea of the US currently fucking with a country down here isn't entirely in the history books.

For example, you have people who discuss invading Brazil to "save the Amazon" as I wrote here and some of those people were mainstream!

If the US ever did intervene militarily in Brazil (unlikely but let's consider it), then how does that event work with this detail I found here:

"Male Brazilian citizens have a 12-month military service obligation, unless the citizen has a disqualifying physical or psychological condition, or the citizen does not wish to serve and the military finds enough volunteers to support its needs. Therefore, although registering for the military is mandatory, about 95% of those who register receive an exemption.  Male citizens between 18 and 45 years of age are required to present a military registration certificate when applying for a Brazilian passport."

Of course, I don't know if naturalized citizens need to do that for the Brazilian passport.

Regardless of if you do or not, I imagine being a US citizen in Brazil (or any country) while the US is attacking said country would make things awkward for you to keep living there.

You would probably try to escape.

Though, like what we saw with Ukraine here, they very well might try to keep all the men in the country.

So I guess you're going to have to cross illegally into Ciudad del Este, huh?

Similarly, as you can see here or here, it was the case where Trump was supposedly thinking of military intervention in Mexico and Venezuela.

Though, to be fair, Trump did deny the idea to invade Venezuela.

Putting aside how likely that ever was, we all know that the US likes sticking its dick into random countries down here.

And no -- I don't mean the sex tourists!

In fact, as you can see here, there have been claims by former Bolivian President, Evo Morales, that the US had a hand in his coup.

While that program, TeleSur, is left leaning and Evo Morales always likes to talk shit about the US, I don't think any of that really matters.

It's the perception more than anything.

If that's what important people like Evo believe, then how do we know that someday this perception doesn't bite US people in the ass like some future leftist government wanting to impose travel restrictions on us to their country?

Above all, I think much of this could be used to make the case that, when picking a Latin American country to immigrate to for the second passport, it's again not the worst idea to pick a country that nobody gives a fuck about.

Especially one that the US gives less fucks about than others.

While I did conclude as Bolivia being relatively speaking a place few give fucks about, the US does to some degree in the same way it does care about most countries "in its backyard" or its "front yard" as Joe Biden put it here.

So generous of Biden to elevate Latin America's status from the back to the front yard. Soon they will be the garage!

In this case, one could argue that perhaps it is somewhat of a lost cause trying to pick that second passport country in this region as an American specifically with the US occasionally picking a country to fuck with or at least contemplating it.

But, if you had to live here, I would stand by the theme of this article in saying that objectively speaking a country like Paraguay or Uruguay is less likely to be fucked with than Mexico or Venezuela simply because, again, nobody gives a fuck about them.

As far as I'm aware, they both have some natural resources (with Paraguay looking to have more) but neither one seems that rich in natural resources as perhaps Bolivia with its lithium. 

Chile does though.

Plus, given how far away they are from the US, I guess that helps in making them even less relevant than say Nicaragua or Guatemala (both countries where being closer to the US does, for various reasons including national security and illegal immigration, makes them more important to US interests). 

So, in that sense, I guess the case is stronger for that second passport to be Uruguay or Paragauy if you are giving preference to a country that nobody gives a fuck about (versus a much nicer country to live in like Brazil or Mexico which offer so much more for quality of life).

Let's wrap this up.

Final Thoughts

But, having said all that, I will be honest in saying I don't give too many fucks about this topic (despite writing a whole ass article about it).

The reason is simple: I don't give a fuck about flying into countries that require a visa for US citizens.

I have no intentions of going to Russia, Turkey or Iran anytime soon and I quite frankly wouldn't give a shit if I died someday never having been to those countries.

Not saying I have anything against those countries or dislike them.

I have been to Turkey on two very brief visits actually.

I thought it was cool.

Decent food. Attractive women outside. Very amazing architecture. Was warm.

All the good stuff that Latin America can provide too!

Also, my dad was born there so it was kinda cool to visit.

Someday I should try to see if I can get a Turkish passport.

My mom says I can't but we'll see someday!

If I can, then I guess it's a mute point trying to get a passport from a country that hates the US government and where visa free travel as an American would be impossible. 

I'd think a Turkish passport would be friendly to some of those countries.

But, even if I don't get a Turkish passport someday, the issue at hand here doesn't seem overly important to me because I don't care for this extra "visa free" travel to random ass places.

I'm a guy who prefers to stick to exclusively travel among the Americas.

So any passport from any Latin American country would most likely offer me visa free travel to most other Latin American countries if any of them ever try to impose visas or whatever on Americans.

Then we have the second point about picking a country that the US is not likely to fuck with (and therefore where your day to day life as an American is less likely to be inconvenienced at best and impossible at worst when trying to live there).

That actually is an argument that makes the most logical sense to me.

While I'm not trying to be James Bond with 10 different passports, properties all over the world and random shit like that, I do not want to live in a country that is facing intense heat from the US.

Even though Venezuela was not intervened in militarily, I do know that Venezuela isn't overly friendly to foreigners from "the West" visiting.

Like how it takes a lot of work to get a visa relative to other countries for us Americans (can't even imagine trying to get a passport).

Or how, as you can see here, supposedly some vlogger was being followed around by some secret service type shit as he claims in the video. 

So imagine then trying to be an American living in a country that is under attack from the US (like how Trump considered going into Mexico as said before).

Shit can happen.

In that case, there is a very strong argument for Uruguay or Paraguay.

However, if I'm being honest, it's not enough to convince me.

I quite frankly don't give a fuck about Uruguay. If I had to make a choice between Uruguay or any part of the US such as Texas (and can't go anywhere else for some reason), I'd pick the US.

Uruguay simply doesn't offer a cost of living too low unless you move to some random town maybe, it's not very exciting, more of a pain in the ass to get back home, getting residency there is supposedly a lot more difficult, the women aren't even that hot and the place is so boring that it reminds me of Iowa.

Then you have Paraguay.

What I feel about Paraguay is basically the same to Uruguay but more appealing.

It at least have the "low cost of living" advantage, their women are more attractive to me, feels more "authentically" Latin American (to which I admit sounds like a retarded statement as it is part of Latin America but I think some get what I mean) and it has one of the easiest residencies in the region.

If I was to ever live in Paraguay, it'd be because I chose it due to the easy residency of just 5,000 in a bank.

I wouldn't set up life there for any other reason.

It's not that I have anything against Paraguay.

I've been there (like I've been to Uruguay) and it felt fine.

Just boring as fuck.

But maybe I'll change.

After all, I'm only 27 as I write this and I like fun and adventure right now.

Crazy stories. Drinking. Lots of casual sex. Seeing cool ass shit like the Amazon Rainforest.

There might come a day -- like with most men -- where you prefer something more calm.

Especially when you have a family.

I've always seen Paraguay as a place where maybe I could tolerate it if I had a family.

For family, easy residency and low cost of living (with no taxes) in a country with very nice people, I could dig it.

But, above all, I'd have to be willing to give up a more exciting lifestyle that Mexico City or Brazil or whatever else can offer for that.

And, if I can get residency in Mexico or Brazil, I'd risk it and just do that.

Sure, a crazy scenario might happen where the US goes into Mexico to kill the narcos or some shit.

Maybe Joe Biden has to step in and start bombing shit because his son got kidnapped by a drug lord as he forgot to pay for the cocaine. 

In such a scenario, I could just move to another Latin American country if I was single.

Maybe even stay and write some groundbreaking novel about it similar to Los de Abajos that was about the Mexican Revolution.

If I had a wife and kids, I'm perfectly OK moving the family to Texas and move back to Latin America when things are calm and the kids that I have with my wife are independent. 

Or maybe I'd just move the family to some Mexican city away from all the violence and tell my new neighbors that I'm Russian.

"No, no, no, got nothing to do with that!"

At any rate, it's a risk that comes with picking a more important country in the world but a risk I'm willing to take because it's one of those things where you go "eh, probably nothing crazy like that will happen."

And, above all, the lifestyle and liking the country more than other countries I could move to is more important to me than "easy second passport."

Though, like I said, if I can't get residency in a nicer country, I might contemplate Paraguay as it's "OK enough" for me and I guess it has the advantage of being less likely to be fucked with by the US or have issues with other countries. 

And so I do see the rationale for why that'd be a good reason to again pick the Latin American country that nobody gives a fuck about.

Be it Uruguay or Paraguay.

That's all I got to say though.

If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.

And follow my Twitter here.

Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt