Gender-diverse Australians could face US visa delays due to Trump executive order on gender
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Experts say order could cause issues for people applying for long-term stays in the US and have a severe impact on mental health. Gender-diverse Australians applying to stay in the US long term could face visa delays and be forced to use their gender designation at birth on forms following Donald Trump’s executive order on gender.
The order, which Trump signed after his inauguration on Tuesday, directs the secretaries of state and homeland security to ensure that passports, visas and other official government documents reflect male and female as the only two sexes. The executive order explicitly refers to binary sex being printed on government-issued documents including passports, visas and global entry cards.
Australia allows passport holders to record their gender as X if they do not identify exclusively as either male or female. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not provide data on how many Australians have X on their passport, but according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 1% of Australians – around 178,900 people – are trans or gender diverse.
It is not yet clear how Trump’s executive order will work at the border and how official foreign documents will be treated. It is also possible the administrative processes will take time to execute, with the order stating agencies will need to submit an update on the implementation within 120 days of the order.
But associate professor of law at Australia National University, Wayne Morgan, said the executive order could lead to visa delays for gender diverse people applying for long-term stays in the US and force them to use their gender designation at birth.
