Last night, I had a conversation with random strangers again about passport privilege. ¿Necesita visa para visitar los Estados Unidos? I asked the other person who mentioned that he has been to the US more than five times. As a record, he’s colombian in his mid forty with a broken English. It was making more sense that I asked in Spanish because to him apparently visa = pizza. He proceeded to tell me about the way he applied and how fast the process for him. To say the least, I was taken aback. For Indonesians, applying for a US visa is no joke. It is a long tedious process that involves a few background checks here and there, especially money.

Even within South East Asia, my movement though isn’t limited but I am well aware that we are still subject to rigorous background checks. There’s this unspoken rule that we shouldn’t look unfashionable and dress just right to avoid being mistaken as TKI or Indonesian migrant workers or even too poor to afford traveling. We have to appear just right to avoid unnecessary checks that could make us a subject of questions like, “ how much money do you bring?” or something similar even a visit to the specialized room for drug inspection. When other westerners would look borderline homeless or backpacker hobo and rarely gets this question.

But before I dive into the topic, passport privilege is basically the ability to be able to travel throughout the world freely based on the passport you possess.. When you converse with someone about traveling and when they tell you about how difficult it is to travel to some countries, know that their concerns are valid. I find that this is something some people are unable to comprehend. There are many paperworks involved that you would never ever experience if you are coming from a country with passport with the highest index and even just a high index.

When I saw on instagram, there are many post about a young person from the EU or US painting that traveling as a backpacker is easy as it looks, they forgot one thing that their movement and others are not the same. Even Indonesian itself posted some misleading information about how cheap traveling outside the country can be. It’s not that cheap and it depends on many factors. There are so many behind the scenes that I find most people aren’t honest about especially dealing with immigration. For example, I can’t be like a brokepacker from the EU or US with only 10k in my bank traveling through the world, is just not possible. Entering some EU or even the US, I have to prove my bank statement for 3 months that I have more than enough to cover my expenses while I am there. I also have to prove that I have reasons to come back home and not ending up becoming an illegal migrant worker.

Even when I was re-applying for passport, the officers asked what I do and was skeptical that I would be one of those illegal migrant workers. I was pissed and they kept telling me that, " well many cases like that happen" and it was just their preventive measures. Meanwhile, when I was in Bali, I saw many foreigners on a tourist visa, working and conducting business and they are not taxed for it.

Another annoying part about having weaker passport is that the time it took for the visa and the money spent could be gone if they are denied entry. As much as I hope for the world to be borderless, I think that it is not a good approach either as what we see in various parts of the world. However, it is ironic when people entering illegally are more accepted and the barrier for people to enter legally is met with various requirements and challenges.

It does not help either when the rules do not work equally. For example, foreigners who travel to Indonesia are allowed to travel anywhere and enter the country as long as they are double vaccinated. It is not the same with Indonesians, who must be triple vaccinated before leaving the country and even using public services including flights and various transportation. Dealing with immigration is also another challenge, just like I presented above.

Do you think it is possible to create a more equitable and fair system of international travel that does not discriminate based on passport strength?