Surgery No Longer Required To Change Gender On U.S. Passports

If you’d like to change the listed gender on your passport, the U.S. State Department has dropped its requirement that you must have already had sexual reassignment surgery.

The policy, which goes into effect Thursday, allows a gender change with a certification from an attending physician. The doctor’s certification must confirm only that the passport applicant has undergone treatment for gender transition. Limited-validity passports for applicants who are in the process of gender transition also will be available under the policy. Previously, individuals had to provide documentation from a surgeon that sex reassignment surgery had been performed on them, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.