Entry tags:
Documents please!
I have my Certificate of Citizenship, and my passport is now done. Thank fucking god. That took how long? How many hours did I spend on this? How many reports and pieces of paper? Do you have any idea how many places are on my study/work list in the last two years*? How many times did I phone someone on the other end of the country? How many times have I gone over the how-to guide? How many late nights? How much money?
But it's done. They'll both say "male" but I'll have them. And this means that I can travel outside Canada**. The passport is good for five years; the Citizenship Cert, for as long as both Canada and I exist.
You need to have the big switch to get the gender on your passport or citizenship cert changed. This is a step up from "you have to have a gender-congruent birth certificate" which failed a lot of us trannies who were born in places where such an amendment was not possible. It still sucks for those of us who can't/won't get genital surgery yet/ever***.
This said, it turns out that if your physician figures you will be going for genital surgery, you can get a temporary passport under the correct gender.
I'm surprised at how unflustered the guy at the desk was about the whole thing. Not at all like other bureaucracies. It's almost as if I'm the ninth person to ask him that very question and he was recently briefed on what to do.
Welcome to Vancouver.
It also turns out that I am on a "security list." This is because I lost my last passport, and I might be an Al-Qaida member pretending to be me. If so, I commend his initiative and ask that he attend my CFS meetings from now on. At least I think that's the only reason - yes I know that the Austrian President died just after I entered the country in 2004, but it's a coincidence.
If I lose my passport again during the next five years, I will only be able to get short-term passports: one year or less.
*VCC twice, SFU twice, the SFSS, three training programs, and a metal shop
** Albeit to countries places where being trans is not illegal
***Medicare will put you on a 3-4 year wait list if you're MtF and an ever-growing/never-moving waitlist if you're FtM.
But it's done. They'll both say "male" but I'll have them. And this means that I can travel outside Canada**. The passport is good for five years; the Citizenship Cert, for as long as both Canada and I exist.
You need to have the big switch to get the gender on your passport or citizenship cert changed. This is a step up from "you have to have a gender-congruent birth certificate" which failed a lot of us trannies who were born in places where such an amendment was not possible. It still sucks for those of us who can't/won't get genital surgery yet/ever***.
This said, it turns out that if your physician figures you will be going for genital surgery, you can get a temporary passport under the correct gender.
I'm surprised at how unflustered the guy at the desk was about the whole thing. Not at all like other bureaucracies. It's almost as if I'm the ninth person to ask him that very question and he was recently briefed on what to do.
Welcome to Vancouver.
It also turns out that I am on a "security list." This is because I lost my last passport, and I might be an Al-Qaida member pretending to be me. If so, I commend his initiative and ask that he attend my CFS meetings from now on. At least I think that's the only reason - yes I know that the Austrian President died just after I entered the country in 2004, but it's a coincidence.
If I lose my passport again during the next five years, I will only be able to get short-term passports: one year or less.
*VCC twice, SFU twice, the SFSS, three training programs, and a metal shop
** Albeit to countries places where being trans is not illegal
***Medicare will put you on a 3-4 year wait list if you're MtF and an ever-growing/never-moving waitlist if you're FtM.