On February 24, 2025, the Secretary of State of the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”), Marco Rubio, issued a cable (the “Cable”) to all diplomatic and consular posts on the adjudication of visa applications for all transgender visa applicants, including athletes, whose gender on the application does not match their gender at birth. Entitled “Guidance for Visa Adjudicators on Executive Order 14201: ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’”, the Cable mandates that all visa-issuing posts follow the guidance effective immediately in order to implement President Trump’s Executive Order (“EO”), “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.”
While the Cable appears to be focused on preventing transgender athletes from traveling to the U.S. to compete in women’s sports, the Cable includes sections that are broadly phrased to effectively apply to all transgender visa applicants – not just transgender athletes. In pertinent part, the broad language of Section 6 of the Cable mandates:
“[B]oth immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications request that an applicant identify the sex as either male or female. Moreover, all visas must reflect an applicant’s sex at birth. If there is a discrepancy either in the applicant’s documents or in electronic consular records, or if other evidence casts reasonable doubt on the applicant’s sex, you should refuse the case under 221(g) and request additional evidence to demonstrate sex at birth. Typically, a timely-registered birth certificate with a sex marker will suffice for this purpose.”
For the full Client Alert details click here. If you have any questions please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.