Trans Americans & Asylum Applications: Everything You Need to Know

By Guest Contributors and Jane Migliara Brigham

There is a large and growing wave of Trans Americans applying for refugee status in other countries. This is everything you need to know about that process.

The first thing to know is that applying to be a refugee in another country is a last resort option. Successful US asylum cases have been rare, and are only granted in exceptional circumstances. If there are any better options available to you, pursue those instead.

This guide exists as a guide for those who want to pursue refugee status regardless. It will teach you how to use the Shield Wall, a legal defense document designed by two US trans asylum seekers who have pending cases in Europe. Their work can be read below.

Migration Agencies & You

A common trap most people seeking asylum fall into is thinking that some ‘greener pasture’ exists. The sad reality is that no such thing exists. Those fabled social safety nets of the Scandinavian countries have eroded and these places are only a few steps behind the US in terms of sliding into fascism. Whether you choose to remain in The States or seek asylum, you will have to fight either way, especially in the current political climate. 

The right of an asylum seeker to be recognized as a refugee is determined by a country’s migration agency. Migration agencies function similar to health insurance companies: they exist to deny you access. Despite what the EU and international laws would suggest, the sole purpose of these ‘claims adjusters’ is to find any possible reason to deny you the right to refugee status. Migration agencies do not care about your humanity, they do not care about your race, how disabled you are, how queer you are, etc. Despite the progressive veneer of Europe and Canada, these countries do not want our tired, our poor, and our huddled masses. Immigration authorities are a cold and unrelenting machine whose sole purpose is to keep the refugee approval rates low. Migration agencies will even resort to a tactic known as ‘weaponized incompetence’ where they will be inefficient on purpose to lower the chances of approval. However, migration agencies are still bound by law, so what they can and can’t get away with is limited depending on the country you apply for protection in.

Migration agencies do not base their decisions off of your country-of-origin in a broad manner. It doesn’t matter if the US has gone full Gilead from a Handmaid's Tale, and there are public executions in the streets. At no point will EU countries ever announce “come on over trans americans, the door is open!” Asylum is a legal proceeding that we have to win in order to set the precedent opening the door for others. Even after the first trans american asylum case is won, rejection rates will probably still remain high, as migration agencies exist to deny claims. Only the persecution you have personally experienced and whether or not an Internal Flight Alternative (IFA) is possible will matter to your case. It's a kafkaesque system, and it's designed this way for political reasons. Just imagine how hard it is for traumatized non-english speakers fleeing bombs with little understanding of how bureaucratic systems work. This is why asylum claims have high denial rates, even for people fleeing countries where being queer carries the death penalty. Well founded fears do not qualify as persecution. In many failed asylum cases the applicant was able to prove a “well founded fear” but they were not able to prove “persecution”.

So what is IFA? Internal Flight Alternative is the idea that you can safely relocate within your own country and live a normal life without experiencing undue hardship. In the case of the United States, these would be the ‘blue states’ where persecution is less prominent. You must prove that it is impossible for you to move anywhere in your country without the risk of persecution. This sounds impossible, right? Surely all of those people who just lost their drivers licenses in Kansas could just move to Rhode Island? 

Transgender persons have a hidden ace up their sleeve, especially those who have been living as their desired gender for some time and had all of their documentation updated before the second Trump Administration. How do you defeat IFA? The answer is in your passport. There is not a single state or US territory that can issue you a passport with the correct gender marker because of a Trump Executive Order which the Supreme Court upheld in Orr v. Trump. The executive order not only affected trans American’s passports, but it also affected your Social Security number. Your passport and SSN aren't under state control, as they are both federal matters.

How to Defeat the Migration Agency

1. Do not apply for asylum without having experienced some personal persecution. Being misgendered in the workplace or elsewhere does not qualify as persecution. Were you doxxed, stalked, swatted, beaten, or had attempts on your life? If so, you have a chance. If you have not experienced any of these things, then your chances of even being given a humanitarian alternative are low.
2. Do not muddy your case with inadmissible evidence. Stick to the points in the Shield Wall namely the passport defense alongside your personal story. If 97% of the evidence you have submitted is inadmissible, the migration agency will give you a blanket denial without even examining the valid evidence, such as the passport defense. If you do not put this issue front and center, immigration authorities will argue that the passport issue was not important to you. Therefore, they will argue that you have an IFA, as you could safely relocate within the United States to avoid persecution. Your mission is to completely deprive the migration agency of their ability to use an IFA on you. What you say matters to your case. 

Inadmissible evidence includes:

1. Trans healthcare issues: Even if HRT becomes illegal on the federal level, it will never be admissable. “The junk healthcare argument”, as a Swedish migration lawyer called it, has been tried and failed in EU courts countless times since healthcare access is considered an economic migrant issue. A good portion of American asylum claims in the past have been the disabled cancer patients and diabetics applying on those grounds, and they all lost. Migration agencies have 15 states to choose from when it comes to throwing out your case as these states currently have “Shield Laws” protecting gender affirming care. 
2. ANYTHING from red states: Bathroom bans, sports bans, Kansas revoking drivers licenses; none of that is relevant. These can all be avoided by moving to Rhode Island or another blue state, and that gives the migration agency an easy opening to deny you on that basis. A majority of trans asylum cases from 2025 have already been denied due to this failed strategy. 
3. Anything NOT relevant to your case: Don’t submit evidence about attacks on trans youth unless you are the parent of a trans youth who has applied for international protection to protect said child. Anything irrelevant to your case is inadmissible.

3. Do not submit phone book sized manifestos as evidence. This is why the Shield Wall exists, as it is short, and therefore difficult for a migration agency to ignore. The Shield Wall creates a containment zone, forcing migration agencies to either accept the passport defense, or purposely break the law. Submitting a 200+ page document mostly full of inadmissible evidence will lead to your case being denied.
4. Do not go to the news media with your asylum case, and do not post about it publicly on social media, tiktok, instagram, etc. This will jeopardize your asylum claim, as you are essentially doxxing yourself. The migration agency will see this, and argue that you are not in need of International Protection, as you do not truly fear for your safety. Approving such a person would create political friction domestically and with the US abroad. Did some hotshot filmmaker approach you to be in their documentary? Did some reporter ask to discuss your case on the record? Just say no. Your 15 minutes of fame are not worth it. If you go public, you lose. It’s not fair, but nothing about this process is.
5. Do not become complacent. You are in a fight for your life. There is no superman coming to save you. Learn the mechanics of how your migration agency works, and what tactics they will employ against you. You have to understand the migration agency to determine the best way to defeat them. The cure to anxiety and despair is anger and action. 

If you follow this guide, you might have your case accepted by migration services, or at least be granted a humanitarian alternative. There are no guarantees in this process, however, the Shield Wall is the strongest defense that trans Americans have at their disposal. Following its advice is the best chance you have if you go down this route.

Where to Apply

One of the most common destinations for American asylum seekers are European Union countries. While they are prominent in the American Union, and many have a decent track record for queer people, most of them are also terrible places to be an asylum seeker. 

As of June 12th 2026, the EU Migration Pact went into effect. Applying for asylum in any EU member country will result in an accelerated procedure where your case is processed in six weeks, with little to no access to legal aid. Anyone who applied pre-pact will remain subject to the old system and experience pre-pact processing times with a potential backlog thanks to the new policy. It is highly inadvisable to apply for asylum in any EU country at this time. 

Pre-EU migration pact cases will take up to three to five years or longer to resolve which will outlive the Trump administration so there won’t be a clear answer on whether or not a trans american who applied before June 12th 2026 has been accepted as a refugee in the long term. The most ideal countries pre-migration pact were Spain, Ireland, and France which have the longest processing times and a somewhat fair legal system.

The Netherlands, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and possibly Denmark and Finland as well, have already deported US trans asylum seekers as of June 2026. The Scandinavian countries have the strictest systems with accelerated procedures and are not the progressive left utopias Americans have been propagandized into believing they are. These countries will be the last places to accept trans Americans even after the US has reached Nazi Germany levels. The Nordics are also notorious for political based denials and will break EU and international law to do it. 

If you are in danger and have to get out right now, the best option is Canada. If you apply, you will be protected by processing times of up to 5 years. More importantly, the recent Jenkel decision found that 2024 country-of-origin information which is commonly used by migration agencies to deny US trans asylum seekers was obsolete in ruling whether or not the US was safe for trans and nonbinary people. In order to apply for asylum in Canada, you must first be inside the country to start the process, meaning you must first enter on a 6 month tourist visa. If you do this, DO NOT apply at the border, as you will be turned away due to Canada’s Safe Third Country agreement with the United States. Avoid Montreal if you don’t speak French, and avoid Alberta, as it has the worst anti trans laws in the country.

Conclusion

Lastly, the Asylum process itself is rough, because you have to let go of most if not all of your possessions. This means leaving behind anything sentimental, including friends, family, loved ones, and even your pets (this includes both service and emotional support animals). This will be a hard lesson in letting go and the asylum process will break you in ways you can’t even imagine. As much as you hate America now, you will have dreams about your old home and be homesick while on the other side. Pack light, ideally a backpack and a small roller at most, and expect to be moving around a lot. 

The Shield Wall can be read in full below: