Overview

• Since February 2025 all new and renewal Nexus applicants must select male or female for their membership even if their Canadian passport shows an X marker
• Existing Nexus cards bearing an X designation remain valid until expiry and U.S. authorities still accept Canadian X-marked passports for general travel
• About 550 Nexus applications used the X option between January 2022 and March 2025, within a program that had 1.8 million members as of April 2024
• Immigration lawyers and LGBTQ+ advocates say the requirement compels non-binary travellers to misidentify themselves and are preparing constitutional challenges under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• President Donald Trump’s January executive order ending X markers on U.S. identity documents prompted the CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to align Nexus application criteria with U.S. rules