Canada points warning for residents with gender-neutral passports travelling to U.S.

The Canadian authorities is warning residents who listing “X” as their gender on their passports might have issues coming into the U.S. and different nations.

In a change made in current days, the Department of Global Affairs added an advisory to its United States journey recommendation web page for 2SLGBTQ+ Canadian passport holders.

“While the Government of Canada issues passports with an ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries,” it wrote. “You might face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the ‘X’ gender identifier.”

The discover advises that Canadians “may still be asked to provide your sex/gender information as either male or female when travelling.”

The transfer comes months after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an government order directing the U.S. authorities to solely acknowledge two sexes: female and male. The order additionally directed that every one paperwork issued by the U.S. federal authorities seek advice from “sex” reasonably than “gender.”

Trump’s government order is earlier than the courts, with the administration looking for to elevate a U.S. district court docket order that barred the State Department from implementing Trump’s coverage to limit the issuance of U.S. passports that acknowledge genders aside from female and male.

In January, the Canadian authorities mentioned an estimated 3,600 residents have listed “X” as their gender on their passports — an possibility that has been obtainable to Canadians since 2019.

Alexandre Fournier, a spokesperson for the Department of Global Affairs, mentioned late Wednesday afternoon that the division added the identical discover to its advisories for “all destinations” on Sept. 23, though the web page for the U.S. mentioned it was modified on Sept. 29 so as to add “updated information on 2SLGBTQi+ persons.”

The division has not but responded to questions from CBC News relating to what prompted the change, whether or not there had been any incidents and what number of Canadians at the moment have their gender indicated as X of their passports. 

Jennifer Young, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Canada, mentioned the present U.S. authorities shutdown prevents the embassy from commenting on the change.

“Due the current lapse in appropriations, we are not in a position to provide comment or schedule interviews at the time,” she wrote in an e mail.

This is the most recent transfer by Global Affairs to extend its warnings about travelling to the United States. In 2023, the federal government up to date its journey advisory after plenty of U.S. states adopted anti-2SLGBTQ+ legal guidelines, warning Canadian travellers of legal guidelines that criminalize same-sex actions or goal individuals due to their sexual orientation or gender identification. 

Earlier this yr, the Canadian authorities’s journey advisory was up to date to warn of the prospect of extra scrutiny when coming into the U.S.

In August, the Canada Border Services Agency suggested that Canadians who apply for a brand new Nexus trusted traveller card or renew current playing cards would not be capable to listing X as their gender.