Denmark and Finland have updated their US travel advice for transgender people, joining the handful of European countries that have sought to caution US-bound travellers in recent weeks as reports emerge of ordeals at the American border.
Denmark said this week it had begun advising transgender travellers to contact the US embassy in Copenhagen before departure to ensure there would be no issues with travel documents.
The change came after Donald Trump made a priority of rolling back trans and non-binary rights, announcing that the US would only recognise two genders and signing off on executive orders that sought to exclude transgender people from the US military, limit their access to sport and curtail gender-transition procedures for people under the age of 19.
The Danish foreign ministry made no mention of Trump but noted that the application form for the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization allows travellers to choose only male or female. Danish law, in contrast, allows citizens to identify their gender as X.
“If your passport has the gender designation X or you have changed gender, it is recommended to contact the US embassy prior to travel for guidance on how to proceed,” the Danish travel advisory page now reads.
Officials said that no Danish citizens had been refused entry to the US or detained at the border since Trump took office. Instead, the LGBT+ Danmark association said it had requested the advisory update.
“We are worried that people could be stopped at the airport and refused entry, or that something inappropriate and uncomfortable could happen at the airport,” Susanne Branner Jespersen told Danish broadcaster Radio IIII.
Earlier this month, Germany also reportedly flagged that transgender travellers or those travelling with the gender X marked on their passports should contact US diplomatic missions before their departure.
Soon after, Finland updated its advice page. “If the applicant’s current sex on their passport is different from their sex confirmed at birth, the US authorities may refuse entry,” the page, updated in mid-March, reads.
Other European countries have sought to sharpen their language around US entry requirements. In Germany, news that three German nationals had been detained at the border led the government to update its travel advisory to note that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry into the US.
“The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities,” a spokesperson for the foreign minister told Reuters.
British officials also appeared to have revisited their US travel advisory, which now notes that anyone found breaking the country’s entry rules could face arrest or detention.
Earlier this month it emerged that a British tourist had been detained in the US for 10 days after she was told she should have applied for a working visa, instead of a tourist visa.
When asked by Reuters, the Foreign Office declined to comment on why it had changed the advisory or confirm the date that it was done.
