My referee is transgender

[Mafster333]

Hi and thanks in advance for your input.

One of my referees is transgender. The referee's passport says "male" but their birth certificate says "female."

When I filled my citizenship application I used the information in my referee's passport and I indicated their gender as "unspecified", to be on the safe side.

Is this going to be a problem?
Will UKVI get confused and think this person doesn't exist/is bogus?
Might my application be refused on those grounds?


(In an ideal world, this should totally be a non-problem, but we all know what the UKVI is like).

[alterhase58]

Transgender is not illegal in the UK so even UKVI could not hold this against anyone.

[Mafster333]

Totally! I'm just thinking, what if they get confused and can't match my referee with their records? They might think my referee is not a real person, or does not exist.

[alterhase58]

You could look for another referee of course, for peace of mind.

[CULLINAN]

You can simply leave a note at the end of the form or cover letter clarifying the sexual orientation of your referee. UKVI can NOT refuse a referee because of their sexual orientation.

[Mafster333]

Thank you all! Useful tips

[secret.simon]

Completely irrelevant and not a problem. One of my referees, a close personal friend, (and she refereed both my naturalisation application and my passport application) is transgender.

So long as they meet the referee requirements (either professional or a British citizen with a passport, not related to each other or the applicant, etc), they can be your referee.

You can simply leave a note at the end of the form or cover letter clarifying the sexual orientation of your referee. UKVI can NOT refuse a referee because of their sexual orientation.

Just to clarify, gender identity is not the same as sexual orientation.

The former is about which gender one self-identifies one's own self as, the latter is about whom one is attracted to. Or as the article linked to above states, "Sexuality is who you go to bed with, and gender identity is who you go to bed as".