A policy memorandum dated April 16, 2004 from Citizenship and Immigration Service states that transsexual individuals should be issued identity documents (such as employment authorization cards, “green cards”, etc.) which reflect “the outward, claimed and otherwise documented sex of the applicant at the time of CIS document issuance.”
In spite of this stated policy, Immigration Equality has heard of transgender individuals still having difficulties obtaining documents which match their corrected gender. It also remains unclear what level of medical intervention CIS will require before they recognize sex change. If you are having difficulties obtaining documentation from CIS that matches your gender, please let us know.
In January 2011, the Department of State issued guidelines for correcting the gender marker on U.S. passports. If all of the required identity documents have the same gender, no medical documentation is required. If there is a discrepancy in the gender marker on required documents, then the applicant must submit a certification from a treating physician. These progressive guidelines, specifically state that there is no surgery requirement for correcting the gender marker on a passport. Instead, a treating physician must certify that the applicant “has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition to the new gender of either male or female.” Since this guidance is so much more straightforward than current USCIS guidance, for some foreign born people, it may make more sense to get the naturalization certificate as quickly as possible (potentially using the uncorrected gender marker) and then get a U.S. passport with the correct gender marker.
Obtaining Proper Identity Documents
When I apply to naturalize, can my naturalization certificate list me as female?
Under recently issued guidelines, you may be able to obtain the naturalization certificate in your current gender, depending upon what steps you have taken to transition and what documentation you have to prove the steps. To obtain either new or replacement documentation such as naturalization certificates, “green cards,” or employment authorization documents, in the current gender, an applicant must submit “appropriate medical and other documentation establishing the alien’s new claimed gender and legal name.” It is unclear what kind of medical documentation Immigration will require to change an individual’s gender.
Also, specifically for naturalization applications, there is an option on the form to change your name with Immigration (presumably to allow new Americans to make their names sound less “foreign”) so you should be able to change your first name from a male sounding name to a female sounding name without going through a legal name change in court.
I’m a transgender man who has not had sex reassignment surgery and I have no immediate plans to have surgery. Can I get my “green card” replaced with my male name and male gender?
The answer to this question is not entirely clear based on current CIS policy. The CIS policy memo states that when “an individual is requesting a replacement document to acknowledge a name change resulting from sex reassignment surgery, the alien must submit the birth certificate issued at birth, the newly issued birth certificate reflecting the name and/or claimed sex reassignment, and the court order granting the legal name change.” If you have legally changed your name and birth certificate, it appears that CIS should allow you to change your gender on your “green card” although it is somewhat unclear whether they will require applicants to demonstrate that they have undergone sex reassignment surgery.
