Passport

[Riley Skye]

I just submitted my papers to change my gender on my birth certificate and when it's changed well I need doctors letters for my passport?

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[Eva Marie]

Yes you will.

There are links out there that link to the letter format that they want from the doctor.

I changed my name and gender on my passport and I had no trouble except I used a blue pen instead of a black one on the DS-11 form so I had to fill it in all over again 

[Jessie Ann]

Riley do you have a prior passport or is this your first one?  If this is your first one the doctors letter will not be required if you have a government issued birth certificate (proof of citizenship) and government issued Photo ID (proof of identity) that have the same gender.  The letter is only required when there is a difference in genders in the primary documents presented to establish citizenship and ID.

[Riley Skye]

Just confused because the website makes no mention of people who changed their birth certificates

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[Riley Skye]

And I had a passport when I was little

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[iKate]

I would get the letter just in case. If you had a passport before, you are probably "in the computer" as a male.

You needed one for your social security anyway (they have a record of your gender). The same letter will work for both.

Here is mine.

[Jessie Ann]

Hey Riley - Do you still have the passport from when you were little?  Generally the letter is only needed when there is a not a match between the citizenship documents and the identity documents.  I take it you have already had a legal name change done and gender change done on the state level and at Social Security.  If you have a state issued ID in your name and gender, a birth certificate with your name and gender and your Social Security record is in your correct name and gender then that is all you should need.  The application asks if you have used any other names and it asks for the name and passport number of your prior passport.  Those have to be answered truthfully. 

Kate has a great suggestion to go ahead and get the letter just in case.  But if you have a birth certificate, state ID and Social Security record that all have your name and gender the same you should be fine.  Good luck to you sweetie!

[tgchar21]

@Jessie Ann - What if she doesn't know the passport number because neither her nor her parents no longer have that passport and she doesn't remember the number?

[Jessie Ann]

I did a quick search on line but did not see anything on that issue.  If you have an expired passport and you don't remember the number or issue date I believe that you just put in unknown in the box on the application.  I'm pretty sure that this is not an uncommon occurrence.

@Jessie Ann - What if she doesn't know the passport number because neither her nor her parents no longer have that passport and she doesn't remember the number?

[tgchar21]

Good point, Jessie Ann. I think the main issue is they're making sure you're not trying to obtain multiple or fake passports under false pretenses (and if you don't know about the details of one you got as a child that would long be expired now it's not a big deal).

ETA: I took a look at the form and it appears that you could technically abstain (not lie) and leave the space blank as long as you're not doing so fraudulently, but they warn you that there could be significant processing delays or the denial of your passport if they can't identify and verify you (meaning that if they see that you didn't provide the number or left the box asking if you've had a passport before blank they'll probably contact you wondering what the issue is, slowing down the process). Your best bet if that applies is to just state that you don't know it because you were a child when you had your last passport.

[iKate]

Kate has a great suggestion to go ahead and get the letter just in case.  But if you have a birth certificate, state ID and Social Security record that all have your name and gender the same you should be fine.  Good luck to you sweetie!

My suggestion is that she could use the letter for both social security and passport, because it seems as though she never updated her gender record with social security (I'm assuming, based on not having the letter which is required for a social security gender change).

So since she's getting the letter for social security, she can just ask for another copy for passport. I got 6 copies of my letter. I probably won't need them all but social security and passport are two letters (assuming they don't return it) and I am giving a copy to my employer plus I have a few left for anything else.

I always believe in being up front and honest with the Government, because they can come back and rain hell on you, even years after you have your passport. I don't like rolling the dice that way.

[tgchar21]

I always believe in being up front and honest with the Government, because they can come back and rain hell on you, even years after you have your passport. I don't like rolling the dice that way.

If you're referring to my last comment, I'm not saying that she should completely ignore the question (notice my own suggestion given there), but rather paraphrasing what the instructions said was "required" and not on the passport form.

[Eva Marie]

I did a quick search on line but did not see anything on that issue.  If you have an expired passport and you don't remember the number or issue date I believe that you just put in unknown in the box on the application.  I'm pretty sure that this is not an uncommon occurrence.

I had an old passport that I had gotten in 1987 and it subsequently disappeared in the detritus of several cross country moves over the years. When I filled out the form for my new male passport a couple of years ago in the question about my old passport I either put unknown or left it blank (I can't remember).

It was only after I had gotten the new passport that I found the old one when going through a box. They surely knew about my old one with a SSN match but it didn't cause me any issues not claiming it when I applied for the new one.

When I applied for my female one a few months ago I surrendered my recently acquired male one. The male one showed back up in the mail weeks later punched full of holes