Traveling While Trans

[Dana88]

So, as I posted over on the Voice Therapy/Surgery forum, I have my VFS scheduled with Yeson in July. Now all this said, I'm debating what to do in terms of travel. My official name change should go through this week. Right now my passport and license both have an M gender marker, my male name, and a male photo. Once the name change goes through, there's just about six weeks between that moment and the trip to Seoul. I'm worried that I won't be able to cut through all the red tape and get a new license AND passport with an F marker and my female name in time for the trip. So there's part of me that's wondering if I should just hold off on changing my license and passport until after this trip and if I should just travel as with my male name and male IDs so that I don't risk a situation where my ticket has been bought in my female name and then one or both of my IDs don't match. Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Squircle]

In the UK you can pay extra for a fasttrack service on the passport. Is there anything like that you could do?

If you can't get your passport changed in time then you don't really have much choice, unless you really want to try explaining everything to various customs officers, possibly with a language barrier.

[barbie]

So, as I posted over on the Voice Therapy/Surgery forum, I have my VFS scheduled with Yeson in July. Now all this said, I'm debating what to do in terms of travel. My official name change should go through this week. Right now my passport and license both have an M gender marker, my male name, and a male photo. Once the name change goes through, there's just about six weeks between that moment and the trip to Seoul. I'm worried that I won't be able to cut through all the red tape and get a new license AND passport with an F marker and my female name in time for the trip. So there's part of me that's wondering if I should just hold off on changing my license and passport until after this trip and if I should just travel as with my male name and male IDs so that I don't risk a situation where my ticket has been bought in my female name and then one or both of my IDs don't match. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Definitely your name should be the same in all of your IDs and flight tickets to pass the immigration desk. If not, it can cause a lot of problems.

It is not difficult to change your names in flight tickets, but the passport is a different matter. You can ask the air flight staff to change the name in flight ticket just during checking-in. In any case, your name in flight tickets should be the same with the name in your passport.

barbie~~

[Eveline]

I agree with Barbie - the name on your tickets and all of your IDs must match.

Photos can be a little more complicated. TSA personnel are theoritically trained how to deal with transgender travelers, so if you are presenting as female but have a male photo on your ID they are supposed to be understanding.

However, you can't count on the same treatment from customs/immigration in foreign countries (or even in the US). The more your appearance and the photo disagree, the more potential there is for additional questions, unwanted attention, etc.

This 2014 article by Mare Brighe gives some examples of the issues a trans person can face with TSA...

[Tessa James]

I have not traveled internationally lately but plenty of travel within the US.  I traveled before and after having all the right documentation and it does make a big difference.  Before my IDs were changed i did travel with a letter from my doctor about being TG.  I still got stopped and checked every time if my bra strap metal or an extra bulge showed up.  Now with matching IDs I do not get stopped and get the fast track Pre TSA tickets. 

I don't want to add to your concern but must agree with the caution others have.

[barbie]

I also travel a lot both domestically and internationally.
Sometimes, my gender or name was misspelled and I corrected it during check-in.
Oh. Once I traveled to a foreign country with my flight tickets marked as 'F' or 'Madam' without any problem.

My passport and other IDs clearly show 'M' and my masculine name (in English, it is a little bit feminine  ).
As I already have long hair in my ID photos, I look like the person in the photo.
Nobody yet questioned or mention my gender identity.
They are just busy processing several thousand passengers per person every day.

One of my photos at the airport.



barbie~~

[iKate]

I already have tickets booked and I was told they can't do a name change. I asked the travel agent and not Korean air. Maybe KE can do it. Besides it takes 3 months or so in NJ to do so. My flight from JFK to ICN is less than a month away.

So I'm travelling with a big fat M in my passport and my birth name.

My therapist says I should present male or androgynous, at least for the return. Eh, I dunno. I think I'll go more androgynous but how I usually go which usually gets me gendered female.

You can kinda see it's me in my passport photo.

Not sure what S Korean customs and immigration will do. But I am sure I am not the first to do this so I am not too worried.

Besides, this guy flies all over with no hassle whatsoever. You think they'll have a problem with lil ole me?

[iKate]

I also travel a lot both domestically and internationally.
Sometimes, my gender or name was misspelled and I corrected it during check-in.
Oh. Once I traveled to a foreign country with my flight tickets marked as 'F' or 'Madam' without any problem.

My passport and other IDs clearly show 'M' and my masculine name (in English, it is a little bit feminine  ).
As I already have long hair in my ID photos, I look like the person in the photo.
Nobody yet questioned or mention my gender identity.
They are just busy processing several thousand passengers per person every day.

One of my photos at the airport.



barbie~~

Barbie,

Can you give some insight as to what I would expect from customs and immigration at ICN airport? My passport photo is 8 years old and pretty male. You can see a similarity but I don't know if it would cause an issue.

Worst case I could get expedited service and fix it? But that is extra $ to spend. Gah.

[Stephe]

As I understand it, the TSA requires your photo ID to look like you present. Not saying people haven't been able to get on a plane appearing female with an ID that has a male picture on it but it could cause issues.

It also says the gender on your ticket and on your ID must match. Last time I flew, my name was changed years before but the gender on my ID hadn't been yet (my state requires surgery). So I had my female name on my ID, I looked like a female in the picture on my ID, I presented as a female (I looked the same on ID picture and in person) yet both my ID -and- my ticket said male for gender. I had absolutely zero issues and no one batted an eye.

I agree with your therapist and I would HIGHLY recommend your travel appearance should be pretty close to how your ID looks. You don't say if you are living full time yet but I assume not if your ID still has a male picture. You might not want to hear this but for this trip, I would just suck it up and not fem it up too much and just deal with the surgery. You really don't want to deal with travel problems, you have enough to worry about.     

[iKate]

As I understand it, the TSA requires your photo ID to look like you present. Not saying people haven't been able to get on a plane appearing female with an ID that has a male picture on it but it could cause issues.

It also says the gender on your ticket and on your ID must match. Last time I flew, my name was changed years before but the gender on my ID hadn't been yet (my state requires surgery). So I had my female name on my ID, I looked like a female in the picture on my ID, I presented as a female (I looked the same on ID picture and in person) yet both my ID -and- my ticket said male for gender. I had absolutely zero issues and no one batted an eye.

I agree with your therapist and I would HIGHLY recommend your travel appearance should be pretty close to how your ID looks. You don't say if you are living full time yet but I assume not if your ID still has a male picture. You might not want to hear this but for this trip, I would just suck it up and not fem it up too much and just deal with the surgery. You really don't want to deal with travel problems, you have enough to worry about.   

I'm not full time yet, that is correct. In fact I held off with the name and gender marker change because of travel plans.

[iKate]

I'm really surprised that no one here has had this issue. Countless girls have flown to Seoul for Yeson and I doubt that every one of them had all documents changed.

[Stephe]

I'm not full time yet, that is correct. In fact I held off with the name and gender marker change because of travel plans.

Then I would follow your therapist's advice and not "try to pass" or present as a female for this trip. You are living at least part time as a male so one last trip for surgery as one won't kill ya and might alleviate a bunch of possible problems and added stress. The main problem isn't your name/gender marker but the fact the pictures on your id's are obviously male it sounds like. I know my male vs female pictures look nothing alike. You might be fine but you could end up with needless drama, being held "for questioning" and missing a flight etc. Below is what the TSA says, this doesn't include info about foreign travel.

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/transgender-travelers

[iKate]

Then I would follow your therapist's advice and not "try to pass" or present as a female for this trip. You are living at least part time as a male so one last trip for surgery as one won't kill ya and might alleviate a bunch of possible problems and added stress. The main problem isn't your name/gender marker but the fact the pictures on your id's are obviously male it sounds like. I know my male vs female pictures look nothing alike. You might be fine but you could end up with needless drama, being held "for questioning" and missing a flight etc. Below is what the TSA says, this doesn't include info about foreign travel.

http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/transgender-travelers

While that is true (and I probably will present male for the flight only), the national center for transgender equality has a different take:

http://transequality.org/know-your-rights/airport-security

What If My ID Is Different From My Gender Presentation?

All passengers 18 years of age or older are required to provide proof of identity at check-in and at the security checkpoint. TSA rules require that you provide your name, gender, and date of birth when making an airline reservation. The name, gender, and date of birth must match the government-issued photo ID you will provide when passing through security. The Secure Flight program checks this information against government watch lists, and gender information is used to eliminate false matches with the same or similar names – not to evaluate a person's gender. If you have different names or genders listed on different ID, you can choose which to provide, so long as you bring photo ID that matches your reservation. TSA Travel Document Checkers will check as you enter security to ensure that information on your ID matches your boarding pass. It does not matter whether your current gender presentation matches the gender marker on your ID or your presentation in your ID photo, and TSA officers should not comment on this.

Sometimes travelers have their tickets booked for them by other people. When this happens, you should make sure that the person booking your tickets uses the information on the government-issued ID you plan to use at the airport. The gender marker on your boarding pass must match the government-issued photo ID you show the TSA Travel Document Checker.

Reality may be different, but my worry is that despite my best efforts and even presenting male I may encounter hassle since the picture was such a long time ago. However you can see the resemblance if you look hard enough. It's really not just the gender presentation but also weight loss and face shape.

[barbie]

Barbie,

Can you give some insight as to what I would expect from customs and immigration at ICN airport? My passport photo is 8 years old and pretty male. You can see a similarity but I don't know if it would cause an issue.

Worst case I could get expedited service and fix it? But that is extra $ to spend. Gah.

Your concern is unlikely. I also had similar cases like you about 10 years ago, but had no problem.

barbie~~

[iKate]

WARNING this is based on actual experience not speculation or hearsay. You have been warned.

So just an update on this. Congrats, I did some legwork for you.

First of all, presenting male or androgynous is an extremely bad idea if you look female. I did (t shirt and jeans) and it did nothing but confuse Korean airport security who kept bouncing me from line to line. First they directed me to the women's then after a few minutes the security guard yanked me to the men's after talking to the guy checking passports. Then I showed my driver license which was updated and they put me back in the women's line. Then when I got there the screener looked at my passport, looked at me then called over a man to wand me down. They have male and female security lines.

I couldn't talk and they confiscated my phone so I couldn't type!

Btw I was asked by everyone who saw my passport if it was really me. Even the woman in the casino checking passports before you can gamble. (Only foreigners are allowed to gamble and they check your passport).  I wrote down "I am transgender and that is an old picture when I was a man" and she gave me a kind of a grin. I didn't really want to have to out myself to everyone.

I filed a complaint and they promised they would educate the airport security so your experience on the return may be better but YMMV.

My advice? Present how you damn well please and be prepared to explain to Korean authorities anyway because you may have to anyway. Preferably on paper in Korean.

In the USA on return I had absolutely NO problems. The TSA on my way out of New York gave me NO issues except setting off the scanner (due to my donor material in my pants) and I just said, "I'm trans" and that set off a lightbulb in their heads.

If your passport has an old pic you're going to be treated with scrutiny anyway.