A new rule, coming into force on April 10, 2026, could open the door for US immigration officers to revoke the visas of trans green card holders and applicants under the guise of combatting “misrepresentation”.

In an update to the Federal Register, the US State Department outlines amendments to the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, which it claims will “improve the integrity of, and combat fraud in, the program”.

Under the new rule, petitioners must provide passport documentation and upload a scan of the biographic and signature page. In the Department’s regulations, the word “gender” has been replaced with “sex”, and applicants must indicate their “biological sex at birth” throughout the application process, even if their assigned sex at birth differs to their gender on their current documentation.

The update follows an executive order from the Trump administration.

The rule states: “The Department is replacing ‘gender’ with ‘sex’ in accordance with E.O. 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which provides that the term ‘sex’ shall refer to an individual’s sex at birth. Only male and female sex options are available for entrants completing the Diversity Visa entry form.

“The marker reflected in the ‘sex’ field on any visa application, including the entry form, should match the applicant’s biological sex at birth, even if that differs from the sex listed on the applicant’s foreign passport or other identifying documentation.”

Trans advocates have warned that this new rule could jeopardise green card and visa applications from trans people, as if a person is found to have filled out a form without stating their “biological sex at birth”, their application may be deemed fraudulent.

If an applicant is found to be fraudulent, according to the Department’s standards, their visa will be revoked, or, if they are already resident in the US, they will be deported.