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Passport for transgender People
Disclaimer: This is legal talk, not legal advice. Laws vary by
state, and some of the information discussed on this page may not be applicable
in your case. It is up to you to confirm any information herein by doing your
own research.
Contents
- United States
- Australia
Passports for US citizens
To get your name and sex changed on a valid passport, you will need a court-ordered
name change and a notarized letter from your surgeon showing you have had
sex reassignment surgery.
Note: without a NOTARIZED surgery letter, your passport
may say "Male" on the first page or will say "Female"
with a notation in the back that says you are transsexual.
I have a friend whose letter from her surgeon in Thailand was not accepted
and has this notation in her passport. She's not too happy, either. Another
reason to consider North American surgeons.
The U.S. State Department has a list of forms. They are listed on the left column.
I believe you will need:
DSP-19: Passport Amendment/Validation Application
Below is a letter from a reader explaining why you should get a court-ordered
name change:
Recently, I was asked to travel to Asia on business. I knew that you could
get a temporary passport in your new gender by getting letters from your
doctors, so I gathered all the information and tried to get a new passport.
My application was rejected, not because of my gender, but because of my
name.
Apparently, the passport agency is adamant that they will only accept a
new name if you have a court-ordered decree, or if you have been using the
name at least five years. Otherwise, they will not do it. They will put
Old Name (AKA New Name) on the passport if you like, but obviously that
doesn't quite work for TS folks. It struck me as bizarre that they were
quite willing to list me as a woman, but only with my old, male name.
Despite the trip being six weeks off, I was out of luck, as the country
where I live requires a background check on name changes, and that takes
12 weeks. I had to request that someone else go in my place. I was very
disappointed as I love to visit Asia.
When I started my transition, I was led to believe that a common-usage
name change was good enough. I have to say based on personal experience
that this is simply not the case. Despite California law requiring that
such a change be honored, I have run into flak in case after case for not
having a court order. Finally, the federal government obviously is not bound
by California law, so it won't work there. I had been planning a court order,
but it was a low priority and I wasn't really working on it. If I had only
known, I could have done it months ago and been able to go on this overseas
trip for my company.
I would strongly urge all people who transition to get a court-ordered
name change as soon as possible. If you cannot afford the fees then you
can petition the court to waive them. It's quite simple to do yourself.
I used the book "How to Change your Name in California" from Nolo
Press (which had the passport rules, but I had missed them).
Travel advisory
Following the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., are more stringent requirements
for documentation used when traveling by air, train, or bus in the U.S. and
abroad. For this reason, I strongly urge all transgender travelers to get
all documentation dealt with quickly and completely, especially Passport and
Birth Certificate changes following SRS.
Those planning vaginoplasty outside the U.S. should make preparations with
the U.S. State Department well in advance of their expected travel date. I
recommend having all necessary papers in hand at least two months before traveling.
Be sure to check with them as your travel date approaches to make sure no
new requirements have been put in place.
Besides the potential embarrassment of having to explain discrepancies of
name or sex in your documentation to airport security or customs officials,
discrepancies in documentation may delay or even eliminate your ability to
travel. It could also cause problems in the country to which you are traveling
and may affect your ability to get back into the U.S.
Although some states allow a name change on a state
driver's license without a court order, I strongly recommend getting
a court order for name change in order to facilitate any documentation
changes, especially federally issued items like passports.
Travel to Canada
In January 2004, I received the following letter:
Since a lot of women go to Bressard and Menard in Canada, this may well
be old news, but I thought I'd pass it along since it was from my personal
experience last month. Ever since September 11th, US Customs requires a
birth certificate or a passport for US citizens to get back into the US
when they visit Canada.
They used to just require a drivers license.
My traveling companion and I attempted to go to Vancouver one day and we
were advised by "good ol' Duane" (which is my name for Canadian
Customs) that it would not be a good idea to continue on into British Columbia
without one of these.
The US authorities let us back in, since we turned around right there at
the customs site, and they just looked at the drivers license without checking
anything further.
But this might be something to tell others about and for them to consider,
not just from the viewpoint of going once, but going again and again and
having the ID change "suddenly" on the next trip. We do not plan
to go back to Canada until after I get a passport that has my correct gender
on it. Being from Texas, I may have to wait some years for the birth certificate
to change. Rats - and we *so* wanted to visit there, too! Since this was
the first time I have traveled to Canada using my new name, I don't want
to get logged into their systems as the wrong gender and have to worry about
undoing it in the future.
Temporary passports
From a reader in 2004:
I travel about 4 times a year to the UK, and so getting my passport changed
was pretty important. I started full-time in July 2003, have my surgery scheduled
for June of this year, but I did not want to have to travel under my old name
and sex. So I filled out the new passport form that I downloaded from the
web, checked the "F" box and included myname change court-order.
About a week later I got a call from the passport office telling me that they
could issue a temporary (1 year) passport with my new name and "Female"
as long as my doctor sent a letter to them stating that I was his patient
and had SRS scheduled.
A few days later, I received my new passport with everything as it should
be; no aliases, no indication of my transgender status, just a note that this
is a temporary passport. I can have the passport extended to the usual 10
year period after surgery when my doctor sends a letter stating that I have
had SRS. What is really nice about all this is that I couldn't get my DMV
to change the M to an F on my license, but at least now I have one piece of
ID that has the correct sex on it.
Also, I should say that the people at the passport agency were incredibly
nice about all this, and seemed to have handled this before.
From a reader in May 2006:
Well, I got my passport in the mail today. And, the U.S. government came through! I got my 1-year "F" passport! (I was told they will give me a proper 10-year one after my vaginoplasty is complete (for no extra money).
And, I got it FAST! It was supposed to take about three weeks, but I got it in exactly one week.
So, to recap:
To get a pre-vaginoplasty, 1-year temporary "F" passport, give the passport official these items:
1. Your current passport (if you have one).
2. A certified copy of your name change court-order (if you are requesting a different name on your new passport than the name on your old passport).
3. A letter from your vaginoplasty surgeon that stipulates the surgery is irreversable. The letter should also have your surgery date on it.
4. A letter from your therapist that states you should travel on a female passport. This letter should also give your background info. (It might be a good idea to have your therapist confirm that he/she believes you are a good candidate for vaginoplasty surgery.)
That's about it. I brought the items listed above and getting the passport was a breeze.
I hope this might aid others.
A reader sent this interesting note in June 2007:
How I changed my passport gender without a surgeon's letter (but with an orchiectomy)
First, with my suggested additional phrasing like "as an adjunct to the gender reassignment process" and "which represents an irreversible surgical transition pertaining to her sexual reassignment surgery", my orchiectomy surgeon was kind enough to provide me with several notarized copies of his surgery letter. He made sure that it accurately and legally stated the nature of his work. The underlines i've added here are for emphasis. And he also used my (then male) name alongside my intended female name, and referred to the surgical reason as "Gender Identity Dysphoria". i believe that his choice of language was very helpful with subsequent authorities. Note: i was satisfied that having an orchiectomy was the right thing for me in the order i did things, instead of waiting until much later to have full SRS. Not everyone will want to do that.
Two, i took the surgeon's letter, a letter from my psychologist stating i had GID and recommending surgery, and my recent court-order name change paperwork to the "insert state" DMV to get a new driver's license. Phone calls were made to some powers that be while i waited, and also a supervisor was needed, but though they were initially cautious, they did indeed change my gender marker to "F". They also of course changed the name on my car registration. i suggest that anyone be especially polite and courteous with government officials, but calm and firm as well if necessary. Present yourself well, and be prepared to conduct business by having any forms accurately filled out and at your fingertips. Need a pen...take one. Checks, social security card, auto registration, credit cards, letters...anything you may possibly need.
Three, on the same day as the driver's license change, i went to the local social security office. In 5 minutes tops, by presenting my new driver's license, the surgeon's letter, and my name change order, they also changed both name and gender. The clerk made copies but didn't hesitate or ask any questions at all. She gave me a temporary printout showing the change until i got the new card. It didn't show the gender so i asked to make sure that was corrected as well.
Four, and the final effort that same day in 2006, buoyed by the previous successes, i went to a post office that does passports and photos. A clerk there very kindly assisted me in accurately filling out the necessary paperwork, and took pictures for a new passport to replace my old one. In this case, i sent along either original or notarized documents (if possible) that included my old passport, my original "insert state" birth certificate, the pending name change form from social security, a non-notarized color copy of my new driver's license, the court-order name change, and the same letter as above from the orchiectomy surgeon.
i crossed my fingers and waited. And a few weeks later, after initially being elated, i was mildly chagrined to see that the Dept. of State had yes, changed my name permanently, but the gender marker was changed to "F" for one year only. It didn't say anything about my gender on the notations/endorsements page, but alas...it was temporary. A letter accompanying the passport said that if i completed my SRS within that one year, and provided certified medical records for that, that they would issue a new 10 year passport for free...so there was yet hope.
Five, after receiving the temporary passport, i sent the necessary documents to "insert state" to have my name and gender changed (that state luckily marks the new certificate as "Amended" only). Again i supplied everything possible, especially copies of the new passport and driver's license, and the actual recently arrived social security card. All of which, except the notarized name change, identified me as female, however they would have needed to actually check with social security to confirm the gender. And in about a week i was rewarded by receiving my new birth certificate...name and gender changed as appropriate. Some few states won't change the birth gender, so i felt fortunate that mine did.
Six, i had everything changed, except for a permanent passport. So in the meantime, i changed everything from credit reports (removing any aliases), bank and credit card accounts, voter registration, library card, etc. etc. All those were very simple, yet slightly different in each case, and i just checked them all off as i went. Be sure to change any kind of record that might appear on a credit report, before you ask them to remove the old name or aliases, so that a credit issuer or legal judgment won't mistakenly cause the old name to be included again. i didn't actually change my health insurance right away, so use your judgment on the pros and cons there.
Seven, now it was coming up quickly on one year for my passport renewal. i had stalled quite a bit so that i would (vainly) look my best for my new photo after having had facial surgery. And still i did wonder and worry whether, being the federal government and all, if they would honor the documentation of every other state and federal department...all now identifying me as female. But i had nothing to lose so i went for it. i did not include the letter they'd asked me to return along with my SRS letter. i also did not include any letter of any kind regarding surgery. But again, i sent the now one year old temporary passport, my new social security card, the new birth certificate, and a copy of my driver's license (you get them all the originals back when they send the passport). And happily, in less than two weeks, i received my new permanent passport with "F" for the gender. At first i anxiously scrutinized it to see whether there was any amendment, or some such, but no, everything was in perfect order.
Now i know that i'm long-winded in writing, and it doesn't make it sound simple, but in fact i believe that one could very probably do all this in much less than a year's time. i've given the steps i took, in the order i took them, and tried to give relevant background tips as well. It won't be easy for everyone i'm sure, but in this case i was able to get a permanent passport without a notarized letter from a surgeon stating that i had completed irreversible sex reassignment surgery. True, i know that having the orchiectomy very early on helped immensely with the documentation changes and its process. Also, i carefully thought out what i believed would be that best process, and i always gave more documentation and proof than needed if at all possible. But hey, i thought it was about time for it to be acknowledged that i'm female, and i wanted to be as prepared as possible. You probably will not do things exactly as i've described...i think that's good...do what works best in your particular case and individual life. And good luck!
Passports for Australian citizens
Extracts from the ministerially-written regulations of the Australian Passports Office, courtesy of Zoe Brain at http://aebrain.blogspot.com/
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