Trans women athletes banned from ‘extraordinary ability’ visas

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is set to update visa policies to prevent the “entry of male athletes seeking to compete in women’s sports”, as the Trump administration continues its campaign to roll back trans rights.

The Department for Homeland Security issued guidance on Monday (4 August) to “support and align” with Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”, and vowing not to issue “extraordinary ability” visas to trans women athletes.

The executive order, signed by Donald Trump in February, described trans women’s involvement in female sports as “demeaning, unfair and dangerous” to women and girls.

The directive laid out that the policy of the US government was to “rescind all funds from educational programmes that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy” as well as “oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity and truth”.

Other Trump anti-trans policies include declaring official US policy was that there are “only two sexes”, banning transgender men and women from the armed forces and restricting gender-affirming healthcare for trans people under the age 19.

The latest guidance does not use the words “trans” or “transgender”, instead referring to “male athletes” to describe who was being targeting, following a trend set the executive order that aimed to ban trans people from the military.

The USCIS said it did not consider a male athlete who has “gained the necessary acclaim in men’s sports and seeks to compete in women’s sports in the United States to be seeking to continue work in his area of extraordinary ability for both the relevant non-immigrant and immigrant classifications”, while a trans woman competing against women would be seen as a “negative factor in determining whether the alien is among the small percentage at the very top of the field”.

In a statement published on the immigration services’ website, Matthew Tragesser said: “Men do not belong in women’s sports. USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women.

“It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the US to participate in women’s sports. The Trump administration is standing up for the silent majority who’ve long been victims of leftist policies that defy common sense.”

The new policy is also seen as an effort to ban any trans athlete who qualifies for the summer Olympics in Los Angeles in three years’ time.

Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) first allowed trans athletes to compete in 2004, only a few have taken part in the Games, including New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, Canadian footballer Quinn and American skateboarder Alana Smith.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was thrust into the centre of a media storm at last year’s Games in Paris when she was accused of being a trans woman.

The controversy flared after she failed an eligibility criteria test set by the Russian boxing governing body. While no details were given about what standards Khelif had failed to meet, the president of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev, claimed the results “proved [Khelif] had XY chromosomes”.

The IOC backed Khelif – who went on to win the gold medal in the women’s 66kg category – and questioned the validity of the Russian tests. Spokesperson Mark Adams said not only did she meet Olympic eligibility criteria but also that it was “not a transgender issue“.

In March, Khelif said she planned to defend her Olympic title in LA. “The US president issued a decision related to transgender policies in America, I am not transgender. This does not concern me and it does not intimidate me,” she told ITV.

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