I’m a Canadian living in the US. I’m also FTM transgender. In the past year, I was able to change the gender designation on my California driver’s license and Canadian passport with minimal hiccups. But obtaining a new visa to China turned out to be a different story.
As far as I could tell, there is a lack of relevant information online – not just information pertaining to my peculiar situation (Canadian trans person who used to be a Chinese citizen, who has a valid Chinese visa, and is trying to obtain a visa for his new passport) – but regarding passports and visas in general. I thought it might be useful to share my experience, first in general terms, and then the specifics. Even if few people are in the exact same boat, there must be folks in similar situations who might benefit from such information. The usual caveat applies: What worked for me may not work for others.
Short Version
I changed the gender on my Canadian passport earlier this year (2018). Although I had a valid Chinese visa on my old passport, I needed a new visa to China according to the regulations, because the new passport had a different gender designation. In addition, I used to be a Chinese citizen. The regulations say that former Chinese citizens need to provide photocopies of their previous Chinese visas when they apply for a new one.
When I made my first trip to the Chinese visa office, the visa officer asked for some documents that could establish that the two passports are both mine (they have different passport numbers). But the person actually in charge was busy, and I left before they could give me a definitive answer. On my second trip to the office, I brought the following documents:
- A doctor’s note, basically the template medical certification for change of sex marker on American passports, and
- A letter from my school stating that they have records of both of my passports.
I do not know if it’s possible to get a visa with none or just one of those documents, if one tries hard enough. But with both documents, I was able to obtain a new visa to China.
Long Version
Background
Canadian Passport
I changed the gender designation on my Canadian passport in mid 2018, with name and everything else remaining the same. Subsequently I was given a brand new passport which has
- a different passport number, and
- nothing linking the new passport to the old.
I was not aware of the latter. Otherwise I might have gotten some proof of identity. But it was also unclear what kind of proof I could get, since provincial governments in Canada don’t seem to issue certificates for sex designation change. At least Ontario doesn’t. So I went to the Chinese visa office with only my old and new passports, as well as the required supporting documents.
Chinese Visa
I had a valid Chinese visa on my old passport that was not expiring any time soon. According to the Chinese Embassy’s FAQ page, I had to get a new visa. Here’s what their website says:
I get a new passport, but I have a valid Chinese visa in my old passport. Can I travel with both passports to China without applying for a new visa?
Yes, you may travel with both passports provided that your visa is still valid and the personal details including your name, sex, date of birth and nationality on both passports are exactly the same.
In addition, according to the How to Apply page, “Photocopy of previous Chinese passports or previous Chinese visas” are required for “foreign citizens who were Chinese citizens and have obtained foreign citizenship.” Being a former Chinese citizen myself, I had to show them the visa on my old passport.
There are probably ways one could get by without doing what I did: Obediently filling out the application form, acknowledging that I had a valid Chinese visa, bringing in the old passport on which the visa is stamped, and waiting in line for hours just to get into the visa office.
I’ll leave what the other options are to your imagination. They might work, but are far too risky for my liking.
In the Visa Office
Officer: Don’t you have a valid visa?
Me: Yeah. But the gender on my new passport is different. (Basking in an all-too-brief moment of validation that I pass well…)
Officer: Oh… (Checks two passports.) Do you have anything that proves that both passports belong to you?
Me: No. Canada doesn’t issue such a thing. (How I wish I had such a thing.)
Officer: Anything from a hospital?
Me: No, it’s not required. (She must be thinking about my genitals. Damn. But why hadn’t I thought of getting a doctor’s note? Damn.)
Officer: So in Canada, you can just change your gender however you’d like?
Me: Hmm, pretty much, yeah.
Officer: But how do you prove that you’re the same person?
Me: My name, birth date, and birth place are the same on the two passports.
She still seemed unconvinced. After all, there’s a chance that I was pretending to be my evil twin who has the exact same name, right? The officer then asked me to write a letter explaining my situation so that she could consult with the consul. After writing a note with my shaking hand regurgitating what I just said, the officer told me that the consul had gone for lunch, and asked me to come back in the afternoon. But I had something scheduled in the afternoon, and was also feeling that my chances were slim. So I decided to leave and not to wait for the consul.
Afterwards I thought long and hard about what supporting documents I could get. I would get a doctor’s note for sure, but what if they still think I was stealing my hypothetical twin’s identity? Getting a court order in my county was a possibility, but the wait time was long, and it was far too costly for something that’s of little use to me otherwise. Passport Canada don’t seem to issue any letters of certificates, and even if they did, it’d probably take them a month or something to produce those documents. So I decided to go to my school’s international student office, which has copies of my two passports, and ask for a letter stating that both are mine.
My second trip to the visa office was far less eventful. I got another visa officer, who again told me I didn’t need to apply for a visa. But after showing her all my documents, I got out of the place fairly quickly. Four business days later, I picked up my passport with a new Chinese visa on it, as promised.
Final Thoughts
My experience with the visa office was not entirely positive, but it could’ve been a lot worse. The Chinese visa office was not openly hostile to transgender people. As soon as I provided the documents they wanted to see, they stopped troubling me further. And I’m certainly privileged to be living in a trans friendly area where supporting documents could be gathered without much hassle. I could imagine the situation to be completely different if I had to visit a transphobic country. Luckily, I haven’t visited any, and have no such plans – if the US federal government doesn’t become thoroughly transphobic, that is.