For transgender people in the United States, like for most people, having the proper identity documentation is essential: Going to the bank, applying for college or a job, going through airport security, and a run-in with law enforcement all require handing over a state-issued ID of some kind.

Often, state IDs can be updated with the appropriate gender, but the complexity of the process varies by state, as the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has documented with a grading system. Birth certificates are still not amendable everywhere, according to the Transgender Law Center. (Name changes on state IDS and birth certificates require a separate name change court order, which typically means facing a judge.)

This is where passports come in. For many, a U.S. passport issued by the State Department is the most universal and least burdensome way to obtain a government-issued photo ID. In June 2010, then secretary of state Hillary Clinton instituted a policy that said obtaining a gender marker change on a passport required only a doctor’s letter certifying “clinical treatment” to “facilitate gender transition,” as noted by the NCTE.

According to the State Department’s website, an applicant’s doctor determines what “appropriate clinical treatment is.” But there are no specific stipulations about gender-affirming surgeries included in these requirements, a first, as noted by The Daily Beast. That policy change has been hailed by the trans community as a major improvement in the process of obtaining corrected identity documents during a transition that includes gender marker changes (not all do).

But the reality may not be as simple for everyone. According to a government website, there are 7,400 facilities that can accept passport applications. A State Department spokesperson declined to answer whether or not employees at these facilities receive any specialized training in gender marker changes.

In total, Teen Vogue spoke with a dozen trans people who had applied, successfully or unsuccessfully, for gender marker changes on passports. Collectively, their stories suggest that applicants face an inconsistent and fickle bureaucracy when applying. Many said that, even if they were accepted, the process involved at least one rejection from the State Department and multiple attempts to get the changes accepted.

Trans people said they are having issues getting their gender markers changed on their passports.

Two transgender women recently told Them about issues they’d had obtaining U.S. passports with correct gender markers. Both of those women, Danni Askini and Janus Rose, said their passports had been retroactively revoked after already being issued with gender marker changes.

“We have seen reports of a few transgender individuals having difficulty renewing their passports,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to Teen Vogue. “The Department has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications for transgender individuals.”

A 22-year-old trans woman in Seattle, Washington, who asked to remain anonymous, said her doctor had sent the State Department a letter that was outright rejected. She says she applied in June, and was rejected the next month.

“There are stories of original documentation being ‘lost,’ which would be disastrous for some of us,” she told Teen Vogue via email. “I feel like that's a pretty normal fear for a trans person in this country, though, just working through another day, hoping our lives aren't turned completely sideways by the whim of a transphobic individual.”

A 28-year-old trans man in Virginia Beach, Virginia, who also asked not to be identified by name, said that the State Department rejected two letters: one from the Planned Parenthood clinic where he obtained hormone replacement therapy and another from a psychiatrist who had written similar letters that had been accepted in the past.