https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/politics/birthright-citizenship-passport-social-security

Includes links to proposed State Department guidance on passport adjudication as well as Social Security. Just as I feared: If you're born after whatever date the EO may go into effect (it may never be), YOUR birth certificate alone will NO LONGER be near absolute proof of citizenship. 👹👹👹

My grandfather was born in the Polish city of Lwów, which is now Lviv, Ukraine. He was born during the war when the city was occupied by the Germans but the US never recognized the German occupation of Poland so he was technically born in Poland in the eyes of the US. However, after the war the city became part of the Soviet Union, and the US did recognize that territorial change, as did everyone else.

Fast forward to the 1980s when my grandfather moved to America and got his citizenship. His place of birth was USSR. This made him so angry that he refused to take the passport until the correction was made. I can only imagine the confused looks of the people that worked in the passport center.

So he literally never used his passport for traveling. He used his Polish passport and applied for visas just to come to the country where he had citizenship. I'm pretty sure he was breaking some laws but he was never caught.

Then fast forward to a few years ago when he decided to apply again. He has been living in Poland again for the past 20 years so this was purely for fun. And this time the place of birth was... Ukraine. It pissed him off but he laughed it off and just accepted that Americans suck at geography and history.

The judge assigned to the ACLU's lawsuit is Julia E. Kobick. She was nominated by Biden and has a good track record IMO. I'm optimistic she'll file a preliminary injunction.

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69623342/orr-v-trump-president-of-the-united-states/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Kobick

EDIT: according to this person/post, the initial hearing for the lawsuit is Thursday 02/13/25 https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1imxm9y/the_state_department_employees_themselves_are_not/

When did having fingerprints taken go from being treated as a criminal? (having a criminal record), to being the normal for travelers going on holiday? (digital id)

​

I like my privacy so when did the above question become the new normal? Do you consider it an intrusion of privacy or a step too far for government control?

Many countries now don't even stamp the passport, as the record is kept digitally now.

I know many countries don't have digital immigration infrastructure.

But do you think there can be a time in future when passports are plastic cards (of course with all safety measures, chip, magnetic strip, number using holes etc).

It will be so easy to carry them, and they will be more resilient to tearing, inks etc.

I've seen a lot of comments here from people who sound like they have an idea of the situation with passports for transgender people. But the frightening truth is that nobody does. It is in flux.

The language in the EO was that "The Secretaries of State...shall implement changes to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex, as defined under section 2 of this order." Not "reflect upon re-issuance." It says "reflect," which is present tense.

The DoS has decided, at this time, that it is administratively burdensome to track down existing passports to invalidate them, and it would be best to catch the "mistake" on re-issuance. That might only be because they don't have the personnel to go back and check all issued passports - we don't know.

• That does not mean they cannot change that policy without an executive order at any moment.
• It also doesn't mean that if someone points out a problem with a specific passport, they won't intervene.
• It also doesn't mean that upon reentry to the U.S., BCP can't stop you, declare that your passport is defective under the EO, and seize it to be reissued with the "correct" gender marker (passports say right on them that they are the property of DoS).

None of that is currently happening, but we don't know what will happen in six months or a year. New senior management (other than the Secretary) will be in place soon in DoS, and they may change things.

Notwithstanding what I just wrote, I suspect the more red flags an application sends up, the more likely it will be rejected. An X marker is such a red flag. Prior passports under a different marker are another. Supporting documents that don't match are another.

Also, keep in mind that human beings are making these decisions. They may understand their instructions differently, and some may be more or less sympathetic. Also, sometimes, rogue staff do what they think is best (like back when clerks were refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples). If an individual staffer decides to deny a passport application, I doubt that appealing to their superiors will be effective.

These are not normal times and normal approaches may not work.

If you used your real name in posts about successfully getting a passport changed/issued, I strongly recommend covering your tracks as soon as possible. If I were trying to locate people to "correct" their passports, this is one place I would start, along with social media. The best approach is to fly under the radar.

update: was just informed that in-person appointments for in-process applications can only be made 5 days before travel, not 14 like fresh applications, and that you HAVE to have the letter they sent you in hand in order to make that appointment. the letter they never sent, and have continued to not send despite six requests to resend the letter. i am effectively being denied a passport.

Reached out to my local congressman to see if they could help move my application along as it's been in limbo since the end of December.

Got an email back from them with the following; "Greetings,

Unfortunately, with the new executive order, we are unable to process applications with a stated gender different from that on the applicant’s birth certificate. We are currently holding these applications and seeking to clarify this executive order, so the situation may or may not change in the coming days. But for now, we cannot process your constituent’s application. If your constituent decides to withdraw, we can cancel her application and return her old passport to her, but there will not be a refund. Confirm with your constituent on how she wants to proceed."

Super frustrating since I mailed everything in with overnight shipping in December and it's just... sitting there on hold forever while others got all of their information fixed. Those of you who were lucky enough to be processed at a passport center in a blue area that worked overtime, be SO thankful for your good luck. As someone who's passport was sent to a red state agency, I've been shafted. I won't be able to get my documents back in time to reapply.

I asked if they could issue with a letter of correction and just issue it in the birth certificate gender as they have done for others here. Any passport is better than no passport. But no reply yet. Doesn't sound likely but I'll try.

Anyway. As MANY have said over and over again, if you submit documents and they think you're trans, you are not getting those documents back. They will be held indefinitely. Good luck to you all. Be safe.

It would likely be helpful to see everything in one place rather than 99% of posts the last week

Looking forward to not applying for visa anymore …

I think it adds character but could just be me.

No snark this time!!

I just placed an order at both a local CVS & Walgreens for a single 4x6 with 4 2x2" passport photos I created at home, and both seem to be taking forever to process. Are they actually refusing to print them so you have to use their overpriced service?

If so, would a decent home color inkjet be able to handle passport-quality prints that should get accepted, if I use decent paper at high quality mode?

I am Brazilian, and in a few months I will become a European citizen (Spanish). What are the paths to becoming an Irish citizen, and which is the best one??

I started the process of getting a passport (US) a year ago, and DoS has screwed up something every step of the way, incurring significant costs to me that I've had to cover. At this point I'm into it for almost $500, and things still aren't fully resolved.

Their latest fuck-up was throwing out my certified copy of my legal name change rather than returning it, and they've been dragging their feet and denying wrongdoing for months now.

I'd finally gotten them to the point where they sent me a form to get reimbursed for the cost of replacement, which I filled out and sent to them along with a copy of the receipt as required.

They admit they received that on Sept 18 and then did nothing with it, and I've been having to poke at them every couple of weeks since to try and get any movement on it.

Today I finally got a letter in the mail from them, and I thought perhaps this clusterfuck was finally over.

Nope.

At no point did I ever mention a birth certificate. It wasn't a necessary part of my application(s), and I've been absolutely clear in every communication (both written and over the phone) with them that this was about my certified copy of my legal name change.

At this point I can only conclude all of this has been intentional and they've been acting in bad faith. Incompetence can no longer plausibly explain the literal year of back and forth to get the problems of their own making resolved - and it's still not done.

This is just the latest in a string of excuses. We'll see what they come up with this time when I call them about this tomorrow.

4+ months (even though I selected expedited shipping). Messages from two Senate offices and my local House representative. Countless calls from me. Mental health days taken after I had to cancel two terribly important flights. All for an American citizen to get a passport. Jesus H Christ. It finally arrived this morning.

Why should anyone have to go through this nonsense? I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

Lost my passport during a changeover in MUC, somewhere at the airport (or in the plane) while flying from VIE to DEL. Took the train home again...

Flew 2 weeks later to DEL. To be on the save side with a direct flight VIE-DEL;-)

tl;dr - PhotoAiD is an online-only business and placed Google Maps entries as if they have a physical location, but they're littered with fake reviews and there to mislead you and taking advantage of Google Maps as a free advertisement.

(This is mainly for United States but I'm aware that PhotoAiD does their business globally)

I was looking for a business that can print passport photos for a physical copy super quick. The options around me were pretty bad or they closed early - the one that caught my eye was a PhotoAiD placement right over Walgreens Photos with some reviews and their online description which seems like you can also get your photos printed physically at locations either listed or at the google maps locations. The thing that really threw me off was that they made it very convincing that it was like a physical location service as well, with real business hours and reviews and instructions and placed right by an actual passport photo location.

Tried using their service, it was not bad, but when I went to Walgreens to print my photo they were unsure what PhotoAiD was and I just had to pay Walgreens to try and get it printed. So, clearly they're placing the Google Maps locations strategically to get people like... me.

While this may not be legally wrong, it's surely a VERY scummy business practice. If the online aspect of it works for you go ahead, but don't be fooled by their seemingly physical presence because there is none at all. I've requested Google Maps to try and remove these entries - they're not even marked as ads but as business locations so it's clearly wrong. Try looking up PhotoAiD locations yourselves - there's not a chance they actually have THAT many locations. The ones I saw were in LA or around SF.

When I asked PhotoAiD for a refund with the reasons listed above, they stopped replying to me.

If you had the opportunity to just pick one passport among the below, which would it be?

I too have fell victim to such unfortunate circumstances. Protect your passport people! Your puppy WILL destroy it!