Travelers applying for visas to visit the United States could be rejected if the gender selected on their visa application does not match their sex at birth, according to a memo issued by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that was first reported by independent journalist and transgender-rights activist Erin Reed on February 25, 2025.
The memo, titled “Guidance for Visa Adjudicators on Executive Order 14201: ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,’” outlines how the US government plans to prevent transgender athletes from traveling into the country to compete in women’s sports events. The directive comes as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Some experts are concerned that one particular section of the memo could be used to restrict travel of all transgender visa applicants, even if they are not competing athletes. It states that “all visas must reflect an applicant’s sex at birth,” and gives consular officials the right to deny applications if “reasonable doubt” is cast on an applicant’s listed gender marker.
With 17 countries allowing their citizens to self-select gender markers that may not match their sex assigned at birth on official travel documents such as passports, legal experts say the policy could effectively bar transgender travelers who don’t meet these new criteria from entering the US. The policy does not apply to US citizens traveling back to the States or travelers from the 40-plus nations participating in the US Visa Waiver Program.
“It’s really hard to see how this is just limited to sports,” says Ava Benach, an immigration lawyer based in Washington, DC. “What jumps out to me is the threat of finding people to be inadmissible for misrepresentation or fraud—the misrepresentation is misrepresenting your gender as the Department of State sees it, and I think this has absolutely nothing to do with sports and is simply a way to stop the admission of trans people into the United States.”
Whether or not the new policy will be applied to all transgender travelers who apply for US travel visas is not yet clear. When asked whether the State Department policy applies to all visa applications to the US or only transgender athletes traveling to participate in a women’s sports competitions, a State Department spokesperson said the memo “instructs the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security to review and adjust, as needed, policies permitting admission to the United States of men seeking to participate in women’s sports.”
“Whenever an individual applies for a US visa, a consular officer reviews the facts of the case and determines whether the applicant is eligible for that visa based on US law,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Visa applications are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis, and we cannot speculate on whether someone may or may not be eligible for a visa.”
For now, Benach says, “trans travelers certainly seem to be banned for the purpose of coming to participate in athletic events, and I think [the new policy] could easily bar trans people from coming into the United States for any other reason whatsoever.”
