Originally Posted by
moondog
Off topic, but which countries are wealthier than the US (without resorting to per capita GDP as a yardstick)?
None - but obviously per capita is meant, when talking about Visa/Free Travel.
Liechtenstein or Luxembourg are tiny and will never even have the GDP of, say, Nigeria. Yet their GDP per capita is high. And yes, GDP per capita is - apart from politics - the reason why you'll ask for Visas or not.
After all, someone from Liechtenstein wouldn't want to illegally work/overstay in the US - while someone from a large yet poor country could..
The pure GDP size decides about other things - like how much the country can force through it's interests - but that's not much connected to the Visa issue (otherwise you'd had Singaporeans needing Visas for everywhere
)