How to legally change name and gender in the US from overseas?

January 21, 2022 7:39 PM

I was born in the US and am a citizen, but live in Australia and have joint citizenship here. I recently transitioned and have just completed the process for changing my name and gender in Australia. In order to obtain a US passport that matches, I need to do the same in the US, but I can't figure out how. Help?

Perhaps I'm just really bad at googling, but everything I have found that explains the legal name/gender change process in the US tells me that it depends on your state of residence. I don't have a state of residence. What do I do? I am enrolled to vote in one state. I was born in a different one. I last paid taxes in yet a different one. Which of those, if any, is relevant?

More generally, is there somebody I can talk to about this? I really really do not want to do something wrong because it might add months and months of delay to an already long process, and I would like to be able to travel back to the US later this year (which I don't think I can do if my passports don't match). Also, the anti-trans legislation is increasing in many states, making it increasingly hard to legally change name and gender, and I would like to get it done as soon as possible.

So... my two questions:

1. Is there a person/role ideally in Australia but if not that, who I could email or call in the US who can answer my questions and make sure I am not doing anything stupid so the process goes as well as possible? I'm willing to pay if necessary but do not want to spend money unnecessarily and do not know who to look for or how to evaluate if they are competent and am afraid of getting taken advantage of.

2. Lacking that, can anybody point me to any resources on the web that explain what people who are US citizens but live overseas should do?

posted by contrapositive to Law & Government (4 answers total)

I think you'll want to talk to someone at the US Embassy in Australia. They have a dedicated passport services section of their website. It looks like you may need to appear in person if you are changing your gender marker for the first time, but I bet someone there could answer this definitively.
posted by jessamyn at 8:21 PM on January 21, 2022

Here's information for the consulate which most closely matches the location in your profile. They have a phone number and email.
posted by jessamyn at 8:23 PM on January 21, 2022

Dual US-Australian citizen living in Melbourne here, I agree that contacting the Melbourne Consulate General is the way to go. That's who I contacted when I wanted to make sure having Australian citizenship didn't invalidate my US citizenship.

Your state of residence should be the one where you're registered to vote, at the address you used to register. Mine is despite not having lived there for almost 30 years.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:04 PM on January 21, 2022

Thank you both! I'm a little embarrassed I didn't think of the US Embassy myself, but it does look like the way to go. I really appreciate the help.
posted by contrapositive at 1:26 PM on January 22, 2022