USCIS Will Now Only Recognize Two Genders in Immigration Matters
- Jennifer Grady
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify that it only recognizes two biological sexes, male and female.
Consistent with the Jan. 20, 2025, executive order, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, USCIS is returning to its historical policy of recognizing two biological sexes.
“There are only two sexes — male and female,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality. Proper management of our immigration system is a matter of national security, not a place to promote and coddle an ideology that permanently harms children and robs real women of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”
Under this guidance, USCIS considers a person’s sex as that which is generally evidenced on the birth certificate issued at or nearest to the time of birth.
If the birth certificate issued at or nearest to the time of birth indicates a sex other than male or female, USCIS will base the determination of sex on secondary evidence. See Volume 1, General Policies and Procedures, Part E, Adjudications, Chapter 6, Evidence, Section B, Primary and Secondary Evidence [1 USCIS-PM E.6(B)].
USCIS will not deny benefits solely because the benefit requestor did not properly indicate his or her sex. However, USCIS does not issue documents with a blank sex field, and does not issue documents with a sex different than the sex as generally evidenced on a birth certificate issued at the time of birth (or issued nearest to the time of birth). Therefore, if a benefit requestor does not indicate his or her sex or indicates a sex different from the sex on his or her birth certificate issued at the time of birth (or issued nearest to the time of birth), there may be delays in adjudication.
Proposed Outcome:
Where there is a conflict between what the benefit requestor indicates as his or her sex on the benefit request and the birth certificate issued at or near the time of birth, USCIS considers the birth certificate to be controlling, except when relying on secondary evidence may be more appropriate.
USCIS may provide notice to benefit requestors if it issues a USCIS document reflecting a sex different than that indicated by the benefit requestor on the request. Likely, this would result in a Request for Evidence (RFE).
USCIS will not deny benefits solely based on a failure to select male or female or a failure to indicate a sex consistent with the birth certificate, or secondary evidence where appropriate.
The changes replace the term “gender” with “sex,” and removes other related terms, throughout the Policy Manual; and removes the appendix containing standard language for medical professionals to certify gender identity.
Background
Historically, USCIS has required benefit requestors to choose between two sexes, “male (M)” or “female (F),” for purposes of its forms and associated secure documents. Section 338 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires that the sex, not gender, appear on the Certificate of Naturalization. Further, INA 203(a) relies on two sexes when it uses the term “sons or daughters” to allocate immigrant visas. An applicant’s sex, like their date of birth, is part of their identity and USCIS uses identity to create secure documents, as well as for screening and vetting. USCIS also shares identity-based data with other agencies of the U.S. government, and data fields such as sex must follow standards for such data sharing to function properly.
In April 2024, USCIS added another option, a gender identity marker of “X.”1 Consistent with the Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government Executive Order issued on January 20, 2025, USCIS is revoking the policy issued in April of 2024 and now returning to its historical policy of recognizing two sexes to ensure that the information USCIS collects in this category provides a meaningful and useful basis for identification.