US immigration starts offering ‘third gender’ option on citizenship form

Immigrants to the US can now decide they are not female or male, but a third unspecified gender when applying for citizenship.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services revised its N-400 Application for Naturalization form to provide applicants with the option of selecting “another gender identity” labeled “X,” it announced on Monday.

“Historically USCIS forms and associated documents have only offered two gender options, ‘Male (M) and Female (F).’ This has created significant barriers for requesters who do not identify with either of those options,” immigration officials said in a news release.

“Limiting benefit requesters to two gender options also creates administrative challenges for USCIS when we receive birth certificates or other official government-issued documents with a gender other than M or F.”

The government claimed that by adding the third gender option, officials can ensure that identity documents and biographical data are accurate.

They noted that the move to revise the form is consistent with the stance of the federal and some state governments as well as “efforts to break down barriers in the immigration system and reduce undue burdens in accessing immigration benefits.”

Nonbinary immigrants do not need to provide any documentation to support their decision, and the gender an applicant selects on the form does not need to match the gender marker on other official documents like their birth certificate, passport or state ID.

However, applicants that do select the “X” option may be required to visit a Social Security office to update their citizenship status or obtain a Social Security card, officials warned.

They said the Social Security Administration is also working on ways to add a third gender option, and other immigration forms may be revised in the future to allow for gender identity.

The move to add the third gender identity comes after the US Department of Homeland Security said it, too, was working on expanding gender options, Fox News reports.

The agency asked for public input on “barriers to USCIS benefits and services” and found that the “evidentiary requirements associated with gender marker changes created barriers for individuals requesting immigration benefits.”

But Matt O’Brien, former chief of the national security division, said the move to include a third gender is “a disaster waiting to happen.”

“It’s already hard enough to vet people who come from places that use non-Roman alphabets,” he told the Washington Times.

“This ‘update’ will now enable people with nefarious intentions to add another layer of complexing to the vetting process obscuring their sex.”

Rather than spending their time vetting immigrants for possible threats, officers will now have to waste time tracking down birth certificates without knowing whether they are searching for a male or a female, he explained.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former director of the USCIS who later served as the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security under the Trump administration, also expressed concern.

“It is overwhelmingly radical, woke, political, virtue signaling, but it will make law enforcement more difficult with each individual,” he said.

Others have argued that the USCIS should be more focused on illegal migration on the southern border.

“The current priority of US Citizenship & Immigration Services isn’t to fix the mass illegal immigration crisis. It’s to introduce a ‘third gender option’ on their forms,” former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said.

Sarah Fields, the president of the Texas Freedom Coalition, also claimed that “gender ideology is destroying our country, literally,” and Chad Prather, the host of “The Chad Prather Show” podcast, mused: “It’s really difficult to be this bad on the border crisis and yet find another way to be even worse.”

But the USCIS insists the change to the forms will have no effect on its screening and vetting process.

“USCIS remains committed to the integrity of the immigration system and is maintaining key identity verification such as biometrics submission and fraud prevention procedures,” a spokesperson for the department told the Washington Times.

The Post has also reached out to the department for comment.