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I am a US Citizen, and I am considering getting an X gender marker on my passport.

On the US State Department website, it claims that I may face entry restrictions into some countries as a result:

While the United States Government issues passports with the X gender marker, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries. You may face entry restrictions in countries that do not recognize the X gender marker. Before you travel, check with the foreign embassy or consulate in the United States for more information.

The equivalent Canadian government page has similar langauge:

While the Government of Canada recognizes the “X” gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries.

Are there specific countries which are known to have a policy of refusing entry to people with X gender markers who would otherwise be able to enter? Is there a list of such countries? I wasn't able to find one.

If there's no list, are there accounts of people being turned away for this reason? Or are these statements hypothetical, with no documented cases where such an event has occurred?


I am aware that some electronic systems or paperwork may not support an X gender marker, and that I may need to list either female or male instead. I am fine doing so, I'm just asking if there are countries where I would be turned away regardless of what option I select, based on having an X on my passport.

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    Commented Feb 19 at 22:01

2 Answers 2

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To add on to @jcaron's answer, I manually checked the Timatic entry of every country in the world (the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 list of countries and territories, specifically).

The only countries listed in the Timatic system as barring entry to people with X gender markers are the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Both countries also criminalize being trans, with recent prosecutions in the UAE and reports of trans people being tortured to death in Saudi Arabia, so it is likely illegal for nonbinary people to enter either country, and definitely incredibly unwise, regardless of gender marker.

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    While these countries explicitly deny entry as per formality, it's worth noting that there might also be problems with discrimination entering a multitude of countries. Entry is permitted upon discretion of the border patrol officers and you have no inherent right to be allowed to enter a country, even if you provide/fulfill everything formally. The list of countries with a widespread or government-promoted trans-hostile mindset is quite long (e.g. Poland, Russia, multiple countries from Middle East, potentially countries in South East Asia, partially Africa, Eastern Europe, etc.).
    – kopaka
    Commented Feb 20 at 13:57
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    Also it's worth noting that homosexuality is criminalized in 66 countries of this world, 12 of them by death penalty. While erasing your gender identifier from your passport does not have to indicate anything regarding your sexuality, it could be identified as exactly that by those countries and you could be faced with charges.
    – kopaka
    Commented Feb 20 at 14:08
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One such example involves the United Arab Emirates (most known for Dubai). The Timatic entry for the UAE reads:

Passengers must have a travel document with gender F or M to enter and transit.

Timatic is one of the databases used by airlines do determine what documents are needed to travel to and transit through a given country base on your citizenship, visas, permits, etc. So in that case if they pay any attention you won’t even be allowed to board.

There are probably a few others where it’s explicitly stated. And then there are certainly quite a few countries which will have a problem with it even though not explicitly stated.

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