As an international student, I have no right to meddle with U.S. politics. The American electorate exercised their democratic rights in the November 2024 election, when Mr. Donald Trump was duly elected as president. Through a constitutional process, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with Mr. Trump’s other cabinet picks, was subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate—a body composed of lawmakers chosen by their constituents.

However, today, I write with concern. According to new State Department directives issued by Secretary Rubio that are now in effect at all American embassies and consulates, transgender individuals like myself could receive a permanent ban from entering the U.S. if we are deemed to have misrepresented our birth sex on visa applications.

On Feb. 7, 2025, and Feb. 24, 2025, two separate electronic cables were sent to U.S. diplomatic and consular officials around the world to provide updated guidance on handling visa applications in compliance with recent policy moves of the new administration.

The Feb. 24 cable instructs consular officials, “….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.”

Such evidence includes but is not limited to a birth certificate, according to the Feb. 5 cable. If consular officials suspect the visa applicant of misrepresenting their sex, the memo asks that they “consider whether the misrepresentation is material such that it supports an ineligibility finding under INA section 212(a)(6)(C)(i).” 

In the Feb. 24 memo, Secretary Rubio specifies some “common scenarios” of what may constitute such a violation, including “intentional, material misrepresentations related to an applicant’s sex or purpose of travel.”

Based on his Feb. 5 communication, “sex” refers to “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female”—using language identical with President Trump’s Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” In short, if the applicant fails to correctly report their sex assigned at birth in their visa application, they would be considered to have been committing fraud.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) provides that “Any alien who, by fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact, seeks to procure (or has sought to procure or has procured) a visa, other documentation, or admission into the United States or other benefit provided under this chapter is inadmissible.”

Per the Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual, a visa refusal under INA 212(a)(6)(C)(i) is a permanent ineligibility, meaning that the applicant could face lifetime exclusion and be perpetually barred from entering the United States.

The Feb. 24 memo is ostensibly presented as a measure to restrict trans athletes from traveling to the U.S. in alignment with President Trump’s efforts to ban trans people from women’s sports. Mainstream media outlets, including The Guardian, The New York Times’ athletic column, and The Independent, have largely framed their reporting around this angle.

However, as seen in the section quoted above, the new directives are not just targeting athletes but all transgender visa applicants. 

I grew up looking up to the U.S. as a beacon of freedom and hope. In my now cringe-worthy college application essay, I recounted a school trip to Los Angeles, during which I spotted a pride flag along a street. “It flew alone yet unapologetic, rainbow colors dancing exuberantly in the wind,” I wrote. “I bathed in the golden Californian sunlight: for the first time, I felt truly seen.” 

Back then, I saw the U.S. as a way more progressive and inclusive place than where I came from—where consensual sex between two men was a crime until three years ago—internalizing a colonialist logic that posits the U.S. as superior and exceptional.

Now, transgender Americans are encountering significant obstacles when applying for or renewing their passports—with many, including high-profile figures like Hunter Schafer, receiving documents that incorrectly list their gender.

Under the new State Department directives, transgender foreigners—aliens, if you’d like—are facing the same scrutiny. If I truthfully declare my sex during a U.S. visa application—which is listed correctly on my passport following my gender-affirming surgery—I risk being accused of misrepresenting information and barred permanently from entering this country.

I’m not sure if I want to take such a risk—or if I believe in that promise of America anymore.

Sida Chu is a member of the class of 2026 and can be reached at schu@wesleyan.edu.