This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Loan Huynh, Fredrikson Immigration Department Chair, is a member.
Starting April 11, 2022, U.S. citizens will be able to select "X" as their gender marker on their U.S. passport applications. The option will become available for other forms of documentation next year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement released March 31, 2022.
Secretary Blinken said the Department of State (DOS) "is setting a precedent as the first federal government agency to offer the X gender marker on an identity document." In addition to male and female, the third gender marker is intended for "nonbinary, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals"—"unspecified or another gender identity," he said.
DOS has also updated its advice for LGBTQI+ travelers.
