The laws concerning LGBTQ+ rights and the social acceptance of sexual/gender diversity in different countries can be a hurdle for queer expats who want to live abroad. For transgender expats, especially, restrictions around the recognition of gender changes in official documents (including the passport) and access to gender-affirming healthcare can make expatriation more complicated. The risk of transphobic discrimination and even violence can also make trans expats rethink their plans.
Only a minority of countries,聽mostly聽in Europe and South America, give full legal equality to transgender聽people
Unfortunately, in 2024, only 68 countries around the world allow people to officially change their gender 鈥� on their birth certificate, passport, driving license, marriage certificate (if any), degrees, membership certificates to professional organizations, personal records at work, medical records, tax and insurance records, etc.聽This聽is the data provided by Equaldex, an online resource for LGBTQ+ rights worldwide.聽
The ability to officially change聽one's聽legal gender can affect multiple practical aspects of transgender聽people's聽lives, from their ability to get married or adopt children with a partner of the opposite gender to their access to gender-specific services, care聽and聽opportunities (e.g., applying for a聽women's聽scholarship, being able to stay in the聽men's/women's聽ward at the hospital).
Half of these 68 countries have a restriction for changing聽one's聽legal gender: they require an official medical diagnosis聽and/or聽surgery. Access to diagnosis and surgery can be bureaucratically complicated as well as expensive, so it is a barrier to many transgender people in vulnerable positions (e.g., working-class trans people, newly-arrived trans expats who just spent most of their savings on relocating and cannot afford another聽major聽expense soon).
The 34 countries with no diagnosis/surgery restrictions for gender change are Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mozambique, Botswana, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Israel, Taiwan.
Some of the聽aforementioned countries聽have a very culture-specific definition of transgender identity that does not fully overlap with how it is understood elsewhere. In Bangladesh, for one, the legally recognized transgender identity since 2013 is聽鈥渉ijra,鈥澛燼 distinctly South Asia third gender for people who are neither men nor women. It remains unclear how much an expat transwoman or transman would聽be protected聽under the category of hijras.聽
The following countries require a medical diagnosis聽to be able聽to legally change聽one's聽gender: South Africa, Peru, the UK, Sweden, Lithuania, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belarus, Poland, Slovenia, Serbia,聽Italy. The following countries require聽a gender-change聽surgery: Panama, Cuba, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Japan, China, India, Mongolia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Romania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Latvia.
The US and Australia are two unusual cases 鈥� their聽different聽states or territories have different laws. The more liberal states on the East and West Coast of the US tend to have good laws for transgender people as well as a聽fairly聽safe environment, but the vast majority of Southern and Midwestern laws have been rolling out transphobic laws in the past few years. For trans expats, moving to the US for a new job requires considering whether this job is in a safe state like California, New York, or Massachusetts 鈥� as compared to Texas, North Carolina, or Wisconsin.
The situation is better in Australia, where transgender people are protected from discrimination and violence by federal laws. However, the exact laws concerning gender change are in the hands of territories. There are no diagnosis or surgery requirements in Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia聽and聽Tasmania. In New South Wales, trans people need to undergo surgery to change their gender, and in Western Australia, they need a medical diagnosis.
Destinations with dangerous laws or environments for trans聽expats
Sadly, there are countries where not only laws聽don't聽recognize gender changes, but they also criminalize trans people under laws against聽鈥渃ross-dressing.鈥澛燭hese countries are Brunei, Gambia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, South Sudan, Tonga and the UAE.聽
The UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia聽and聽Indonesia are popular countries with expats for various reasons, such as affordability and good quality of life in Malaysia or zero income tax and cutting-edge technology in the UAE. However, they might be unsafe destinations for聽queer, especially trans, expats.
In the UAE,聽it's聽specifically transwomen who are the most vulnerable because cross-dressing laws criminalize people which the state deems to be聽鈥渂iologically male鈥澛燿ressing up in聽women's聽clothing. There have been reports of trans travelers being detained for hours at the airport in Dubai, being grilled with invasive questions about their sex lives by immigration officials聽and聽even getting deported. Vice News reported about a Thai trans model who went through this ordeal despite being an official invitee to the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Similarly, Climate Home News reports that trans and non-binary climate campaigners avoided the聽2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai because they feared deportation.
The Rainbow Network of the University of Birmingham gives some travel tips for trans tourists and expats in the UAE.聽This advice can be extended聽to other destinations which are unsafe for transgender expats. First, they advise trans people who already transitioned back home against traveling/moving to these places if they聽don't聽fully physically聽鈥減ass for鈥澛爐he gender on their passport, i.e., if they聽don't聽fully聽pass as cisgender. They also ask them to be careful with healthcare services that might reveal their trans identity to the authorities. For instance, it might be best to consult a private expat doctor in the country rather than go to a state-run hospital. They can also go to more liberal nearby countries for some types of healthcare.
Of course, they also recommend not showing any publicly visible sign of support for LGBTQ+ rights.聽This聽includes wearing LGBTQ+ logos on clothes, sporting LGBTQ+ pins/keychains/lanyards, signing any emails with pronouns, and sharing content about trans rights on social media during their stay in the country. They recommend making聽one's聽social media profiles and presence as private as possible during the stay. The network also strongly advises trans聽expats聽in queer relationships not to give their聽partner's聽name as聽鈥渘ext of kin鈥澛爐o emergency services. Instead,聽give聽the name of a straight, cisgender family member like a parent or sibling. Of course, having to walk on eggshells all the time like this is stressful, and despite all precautions, the risk of getting detained, arrested聽or聽deported still exists.
In other parts of the world, legal protection does not fully guarantee the lack of discrimination or violence in everyday life. For example, across Latin America, the rate of violence and homicide against trans people is high despite聽strong聽laws. Brazil, where changing聽one's聽gender is entirely legal, has the highest murder rate of transgender people in the world. According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Report of the Transgender Europe (TGEU) network, there have been over 4,500 registered murders of trans people in Brazil between 2008-2023, including 100 in 2023.
The worst countries for the risk of murder for trans people are, from the highest to least high homicide rates, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, the US, India, Pakistan, Venezuela, Argentina, the Philippines, Ecuador, and聽Peru.聽
Ideally, the safest destinations for trans expats would be those that both have strong laws聽and聽a low violence rate. The specialized travel journalism website Asher & Lyric, dedicated to safety while traveling, compiled a list of the safest countries for trans tourists and expats. Their ranking considers both legal protection on paper and actual rates of discrimination or violence. The destinations they list as the safest in 2023 are, from the safest first, Malta, Portugal, Canada, Sweden, Bolivia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Switzerland, France, Spain, and聽the UK. Many of these countries have been welcoming more expats in recent years. Malta, for one, is attracting expats who work in financial services.聽Canada's聽current聽immigration goal is 500,000 new skilled聽expats聽in 2025 and 2026.
In some cases, the relationship between the law and reality can be inverse: a destination can be聽fairly聽safe for trans expats even in the absence of legal recognition on paper.聽This聽is the case in Thailand. As reported by the NGO Stonewall UK, there informally exists a flourishing scene for trans people (including聽鈥渓adyboys,鈥澛爕oung transwomen) in Thailand, and many expats travel there for affordable gender-affirming surgery in private clinics. Despite this, officially changing聽one's聽gender on聽one's聽documents is still illegal under Thai law, and transphobic discrimination still happens in formal settings like white-collar workplaces.
How trans聽expats聽have navigated various restrictions聽
How have transgender expats dealt with restrictions and risks concerning their gender identity while living abroad, and what聽useful聽tips have allies given them from their observations while living abroad?聽
Thankfully, not every new expatriation means increased risk. Plus, as many trans expats choose safer destinations in the first place, they are sometimes actually moving to a place where they聽don't聽have to be overly careful about how to protect themselves.聽This聽is the case of an American expat from a Republican state with transphobic laws who was trying to relocate to Sweden partly because he has a transgender child.
On the forum of 大咖福利影院, one expat in Indonesia says that even if the country criminalizes trans identities, tourists and expats often have a degree of privilege that makes them unlikely to be exposed to as much discrimination or violence as local trans people. A trans expat who already legally transitioned back home is still in a safer position than a transgender Indonesian.聽He advises聽to聽just聽avoid聽showing your identity too openly, like by avoiding hosting LGBTQ+ events.聽
On the China forum of 大咖福利影院, one Welsh teacher asked whether her trans identity would affect her ability to get a job in China. Chinese citizens and聽expats聽in China have given her advice concerning administrative loopholes and finding an accommodating workplace. As there is no third option on forms for expat workers,聽she was recommended聽to tick both the聽鈥渕ale鈥澛燼nd聽鈥渇emale鈥澛燽oxes and then add an explanatory note that she is a transwoman. Trans expats can create or use administrative loopholes like this when official papers in a foreign country do not cater to gender diversity.
She聽was also advised聽to be honest with her prospective employer, who would likely be聽a聽headmaster/headmistress or director聽of an institute, instead of hiding her identity.聽She was comforted that people in many parts of China are tolerant of diverse gender identities and that聽she'd聽be unlikely to face聽a lot of聽discrimination. However, it was still recommended to her to apply to teach teenagers or adults rather than young children because some parents might still have irrational transphobic fears about gender non-conforming people teaching their children.
Some of the challenges faced by trans expats聽don't聽concern discrimination per se but rather the difficulty of finding a queer community to feel at home with. In an interview with Expat Magazine, one young聽trans Indian聽expat who moved to the UK to study said it was challenging at first to bond with the trans community in London 鈥� because it was a culture-specific community, with slang and references that聽are not necessarily used聽in queer communities in India. They said that relocating with their partner helped make them feel less alone when they initially struggled聽to fully bond with the local trans community.
Useful links:
