mccNov 6, 2024

Note to USA folks, ❗trans folks especially❗.

A passport is:
- Fundamentally useful
- A federal ID
- Recognized in most state/local level contexts
- *You can change your gender marker on it through pure self ID, with nothing medical required*. "X" is an option. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/selecting-your-gender-marker.html
- Normally 4-6 weeks to process (faster if u pay extra); that means if you apply for one this week, you easily get it before Jan 20.
- Lasts 10 years

Perhaps apply for one (or renew it, to reset yr 10 years) soon.

Selecting your Gender Marker

Information about how to select a new gender marker on your U.S. passport.

Show threadmccNov 6, 2024
One other thing. There are two forms of passport, a "passport" and "passport card". The passport is normally what you want. But the "card" is interesting because (1) it's cheaper; you can get it for as little as $30 (2) it looks like an ID and fits in a wallet. The downside is the "card" only works in North America and parts of the Caribbean (and is unusable with air travel). If you're willing to pay more, you can get both (but if so, be sure not to lose either— you'll need both at renewal time)
Show threadJen, MPH has moved see bioNov 6, 2024
@mcc if getting a passport is now important to you, I would get both a passport and a passport card! A passport card is easier to carry on your person, like a drivers license. Especially for those who are POC, this may become relevant.
Show threadAndreas KNov 6, 2024

@tweetsjen @mcc
It is also an implicit proof of citizenship.

A driving licence is not, as it's issued to any resident who takes the test.

Show threadMatthew Miller

@yacc143 @tweetsjen @mcc

A passport is an _explicit_ proof of citizenship. (In the US at least, even an expired one.)

Nov 6, 2024 at 2:13pmWeb
Show threadAndreas KNov 6, 2024

@mattdm @tweetsjen @mcc

Not necessary. I get a passport, claim I lost it, then I lose the citizenship, in whatever way, then I still have that passport in my hands that fraudulently proves a citizenship that does not exist.

But implicitly, if you wave around a passport, you should have a legal assumption that you are a citizen till proven otherwise. Like some documents showing your denaturalization after it was issued.

Show threadJen, MPH has moved see bioNov 6, 2024

@yacc143 losing citizenship is not exactly common or something that authorities would consider by default at present time. Currently, a passport or passport card functions as explicit proof of citizenship in the US. Drivers licenses do not, which is why I recommend getting a passport card. I didn’t realize that part possibly needed clarification.

@mattdm @mcc

Show threadAndreas KNov 6, 2024
@tweetsjen @mattdm @mcc
Ah, you missed the ramblings of the new Strongman of the USA, and considering that he'll be having the support of the full Congress and SCOTUS, his fever dreams of "Citizen is who I say that citizen is" (no that's not an Adolf quote, that's a paraphrase of Lueger's quote about Jews, a generation or so earlier of antisemite here around.)
Show threadJen, MPH has moved see bioNov 6, 2024

@yacc143 I probably missed some of them, but it’s also why I said currently. Part of Trump’s immigration policy seems to be to make the US such a shithole country that it will be undesirable to immigrants.

@mattdm @mcc

Show threadMatthew MillerNov 6, 2024

@yacc143 @tweetsjen @mcc

Explicit doesn't mean infallible. A US passport is explicit documentation of US citizenship.

Show threadmccNov 6, 2024
@yacc143 @mattdm @tweetsjen I'm not sure I understand what is being proposed in this last post but I think I recommend against it. Note there is a method for renouncing US citizenship, but it I hear it is somewhat expensive.
Show threadAndreas KNov 6, 2024

@mcc @mattdm @tweetsjen No my point was, it's quite possible, at least in theory to have a passport for a citizenship that one does not have anymore. Because authorities cannot collect a passport from you if you claim to have lost it.

That why having a passport from country X is not a 100% proof.

(Plus in the past at least, some countries issued passports, marked as such, to foreigner, literally called “foreigners passports” as ID documents.)

Show threadMatthew MillerNov 6, 2024

@yacc143 @mcc @tweetsjen

I don't really want to argue about the meaning of words today.