The United States government has instructed its consular officials across the world to deny visa applications made by transgender athletes seeking to enter the U.S. for sports events, while also opening the door on lifelong blocks on visas for applicants who are judged to have “misrepresented” their sex in their application.

Earlier in February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prohibited the participation of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. The order, headlined “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports” also said it is now the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that do not follow the government’s position on the matter.

On Jan. 20, during the first day of Trump’s second term, he also instructed the federal government to define sex as only male or female and that government-issued IDs should reflect this.

The position of the U.S. government is of further global significance as Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games in 2028 and Trump’s executive order in February already instructed the U.S. Secretary of State to use “all appropriate and available measures” to ensure that the International Olympic Committee decides eligibility for participation in women’s sports “according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.”

Trump said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make clear to the IOC “that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy.”

He added: “We want them to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject that we even have to talk about this subject.”

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment from The Athletic by the time of publication.

According to sources who spoke anonymously as they are not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, two electronic cables were sent to all diplomatic and consular posts worldwide. These provided updated guidance to consular officials on how they should handle visa applications.

It is not yet known how many trans athletes will seek to compete in 2028. The first to take part in the Games was New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, staged in 2021.

The latest developments indicate there may be future implications for athletes seeking to compete in leading women’s sports leagues in the U.S., including the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), while the U.S. and Mexico are favorites to win the bidding process to host the women’s edition of the World Cup in 2031.

President Trump’s February executive order already stated that the secretaries of State and Homeland Security “shall review and adjust policies permitting admission to the United States of males seeking to participate in women’s sports, and shall issue guidance with an objective of preventing such entry to the extent permitted by law.”

This included a reference to Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which seeks to prevent any attempts to procure a visa by “fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact.” It is particularly consequential to be denied a visa on these grounds because not only does it block entry on that occasion, but it also can mean permanent exclusion from the U.S. due to a fraudulent or misrepresentative application, with only limited waivers.

“This is yet another action from the Trump Administration that makes it abundantly clear trans people are squarely in their crosshairs, despite the fact that we are barely 1.6 percent of the population,” Carl Charles, a senior attorney with the non-profit Lambda Legal, said following the executive order.

The order now appears to be extended to transgender people deemed by consular officials to be misleading them about their assigned sex at birth.
The second cable sent to officials around the world included a directive from Rubio. That directive, first reported by but subsequently independently sourced and verified by , read: “In cases where applicants are suspected of misrepresenting their purpose of travel or sex, you should consider whether this misrepresentation is material such that it supports an ineligibility finding.”

An ineligibility finding could trigger permanent exclusion.

While speaking about the Los Angeles Olympics in early February, Trump also said: “I’m also directing our Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem…to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.