The Passport is one of society's longest-running temporary hacks

"Now, replace the 'White candidates only' with 'Australian residents only,' and you have a real example of thousands of modern job ads shared around the web every day."

That's an outrageous and insidious comparison to make. Nationality and ethnicity are two different things. Presumably, there are more than just white people in Australia. Job ads with country based limitations are primarily legal considerations. Hiring non-residents in _any_ country generally requires procedures that cost money or time, either in the process itself or hiring a third-party to delegate the process. Nation-based hiring is not racial prejudice.

Now, an analysis of the reasoning why countries(read: not companies) create their immigration policies would be worth an article. But, that's an orthogonal issue.

I understand that this blog article is simply an ad/SEO marketing article. But your point could be made without such statements. It's such an incredulous thing to imply.

I feel really quite blessed by my Irish passport. No visas needed, I can live and work in any EU country, schengen country or the UK, which represents almost all of the desirable countries in the world. And we've never been at war with anyone, so nobody hates us, making the rest of the world about as accessible as it can be for a non citizen. It is a bit ridiculous that I get this privilege, just from what hospital I was born in.

>Until 1914, there were no travel restrictions based on where you were born.

Um... That's a flat out lie. I read a lot of history for fun and there are countless instances of people not able to enter other kingdoms/countries, or even leave where they're at without some form of official document. Hell, the wikipedia on passports gives plenty of examples or proto-passports starting from 450 BC. There's been plenty of travel, work and living restrictions between countries for thousands of years. Just a little Silk Road reading shows how complex travel/work was back in that era.

The modern passport can be more related to as a unified standard of documentation to travel between sovereign nations. But to say you could waltz in live/work in any country you chose to, without said country's acknowledgement prior to the passport's inception? That's bullshit. Does the general system of passports and visas need to updated to adapt more to the times? Yea, I can see that.

I get where the writer is coming from... but one of the pillars of their argument is based on literally zero knowledge of history. No matter how warm, fuzzy, feel good you want to seem, you still need to be based on reality and history. If the sheer basics of immigration and merchant control history is completely blank on them, it's hard to imagine their ideas on economic improvement are any good. I doubt they know much on economic history, what has worked and hasn't worked in the past few hundred years, let alone thousands.

As someone from a country whose passport doesn't get you anywhere, it's always a weird feeling to see characters in movies or stories doing things that are so different from your world view.

I was reading a thrilling story once of some bay area founders who booked a rather urgent flight to a European country for a business meeting, left a few hours early for the airport, realized on the way that one of the guy's passport had expired, managed to go to San Francisco and get it renewed and made it to their flight. For the person narrating the story the expired passport was just a cinematic detail.

As I heard the story, I was thinking how foreign that whole experience was for me—First, I couldn't possibly plan a Europe trip on a whim. I would need a few weeks for Visa applications and fees and arranging a zillion documents to apply for and get a Visa, and add a few more weeks if it's a country whose consulate isn't where I live.

Second, it never happens that my passport is 'accidentally' expired because my life is a constant mess of passport and visa stamp and I-94 and other complications, so I constantly need to be aware of what I need to be doing so that I don't fall out of 'legal status' in the US.

Third, if my passport was indeed expired, there was no way in hell I could get it renewed in a couple of hours. I would basically have to forfeit my trip, as more than a few friends of mine have had to do at various points of time in life due to passport and visa complications.

For people with non-magical passports like ours there is no spontaneity of international travel.

This article does a good job of listing some of the common counter-arguments:

"1) Mass migration would create mass poverty. A popular one is that everyone from South America and Africa would move to the U.S., which would, in turn, become a poor country.

2) No developed nation would be able to afford the new demand for their welfare programs. How would they keep a quality health system or unemployment protection program in place?

3) Terrorism.

4) The receiving countries would risk losing their national culture."

But then it doesn't seem to address any of them! It just points people to an Amazon link to buy a book on the subject. Frankly, seems like pretty thin content marketing for this website.

Overall a positive feel good article. I don't mean to come across as excessively critical of foreigners.

Some cultures do not mix well. It's hard working with people who refuse to speak the host countries' language, are happy to engage in politics brought in from other cultures and who engage in race to the bottom strategies. Add in separate religious practices and it can be too much.

I have experienced this firsthand in developed countries. I am glad the brazilian author finds working in australia agreeable.