US Restricts Certain Visas for Transgender Athletes

The new policy alert means that transgender athletes will not be considered aliens of ‘extraordinary ability’ for status to compete in the United States.

Immigrants wait for interviews at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Queens office in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City on May 30, 2013. John Moore/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency responsible for managing legal immigration to the United States, announced new immigration policies on Aug. 4 that are more restrictive for foreign athletes who identify as transgender.

The notice, issued by the agency, indicates that certain situations—such as a male athlete’s history of competing against women—will be treated as a “negative factor” when measuring a foreign national’s meritorious achievements against criteria for certain immigration benefits, such as EB-1 and EB-2 immigrant status—two classes of lawful permanent residency—as well as O-1A non-immigrant status, which are issued to athletes of “extraordinary ability” with national or international acclaim.

The agency cited President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports“ as the basis for the decision. The order means that foreign transgender athletes are unlikely to be granted statuses that would allow them to compete in the United States.

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is issuing policy guidance ... to support and align with Executive Order (EO) 14201,” read the policy alert issued by the agency. “EO 14201 directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop policies to prevent the entry of male athletes seeking to compete in women’s sports.”

The action is part of a series of Trump administration initiatives to restrict transgender athletes from participating in female sporting events. Recently, the administration began a federal civil rights investigation of the State of Oregon, where policies about the issue are generally more progressive, for allegedly permitting transgender athletes to compete in female sporting events.

The issue of transgender athletes’ participation in sporting events has been a lightning rod of controversy in national politics over the last several years. Some Democrats, of late, have indicated that their party’s previous defense of such athletes—as demanded by pro-transgender and socially progressive activist groups—has been electorally harmful.

It is unclear whether this new policy will affect athletes who are traveling to the United States to participate in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The U.S. Olympic Committee, which represents the United States at the International Olympic Committee that organizes the games, recently aligned its policies with the administration and restricts transgender athletes to events based on their sex.

“The topic of transgender athletes is highly complex, which has been approached by International Federations and National Olympic Committees in different ways depending on their sport and their national legislation and context,” the International Olympic Committee wrote in response to a query from The Epoch Times about whether the new policy would affect athletes traveling to the United States for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The Committee also noted that, at a recent working group convened regarding transgender athletes, “there was overwhelming support from the IOC Members for the proposal that the IOC should protect the female category.”

The American Immigration Lawyers Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.