Critics rolled their eyes when Canada laid out a US travel warning in 2023 over anti-LGBTQ laws, calling it a stunt. Or when the NAACP said the quiet part out loud.
Fast forward to 2025 and a growing number of Americaโs strongest allies are warning their citizens about traveling here, thanks to the mess of anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant policies. Travel warnings are no longer nicheโtheyโre going mainstream. And they are changing the terms of debate in ways that empower queer and trans travelers.
Hereโs the full list of U.S. travel advisories Iโve tracked so far.
Iโll keep updating this post as more countries join the warning parade. Subscribe to the newsletter to get early notice of big changes like this one.
Netherlands
The Netherlands issued a travel advisory for LGBTQ+ citizens considering visiting the US.
Their advisory warned Dutch citizens that US has social acceptance for LGBTQ+ people than the Netherlands, and a quickly changing legal landscape. Before this week’s update, the official guidelines said the US had laws and social attitudes to the Netherlands โ obviously, that’s changed!
The advisory recommended Dutch citizens contact the US consulate in Amsterdam; however it’s closed for renovations and won’t reopen until mid-June at the earliest.
Germany
In a pointed travel advisory, Germany warned trans and nonbinary citizens about visiting the U.S.โthanks to American policies that insist on binary-only identification.
The advisory takes aim at a series of Trump-era executive orders that scapegoat and bully gender diverse and trans folks, including:
- Halting the issuance of US X-gender-marker passports
- Declaring that only โmaleโ and โfemaleโ sexes legally exist and gender identity is a fiction
- Instructing US consular staff to deny visas if they suspect someoneโs gender doesnโt โmatchโ what’s on their documents
- Teeing up Los Angeles for a cis-only Olympics by planning to deny trans athletes visas
Meanwhile, Germany has a Gender Self-Determination Act that makes it a breeze to update their gender markersโone reason they’re on our list of top European destinations for gay and lesbian travelers!
The German government now advises folks with an X gender passport to check in with a U.S. embassy before traveling.
The US travel warning comes as three German citizens, including a U.S. green card holder, were recently detained with no clear cause and no apparent legal violations.
Canada
Canada was ahead of the curve, issuing its first U.S. travel advisory back in 2023 due to the tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in several states.
Now the country that uses “North America” as a synonym for Canada + US is back at it.
This month, Canadian MP Charlie Angus publicly told folks to avoid traveling to the U.S. โif at all possible.โ That includes folks with cross-border jobs who don’t exactly have a choice.
His warning follows Trumpโs absurd (and still very real) push to make Canada the 51st stateโafter Panama and Greenland and whatever whim strikes next.
It comes after Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney was detained by ICE over what officials claimed was a visa issue regarding her work for a US-based company. Mooney wrote a gut-punch of an opinion piece in The Guardian that lays bare the casual cruelty of Trump era policies and the vulnerable people caught up in ICE raids that lack Mooney’s privilege and power.
Finland
Finland didnโt sugarcoat it. Their advisory flat-out warns that trans and gender-diverse travelersโespecially those who updated their gender marker from assigned-at-birth โ risk being denied entry to the U.S. altogether.
No euphemisms. Just: โyou might not make it through border control.โ
Denmark
Like Germany, Denmark offers an X gender marker on passportsโand theyโre telling folks who have one to check with the nearest U.S. embassy before packing their bags.
Translation: “Weโre not sure the U.S. will treat you like a person.”
Britain
A Welsh traveler crossed into the U.S. from Canada on a tourist visa to do a housesitโand ended up detained by ICE for 19 days.
If youโre a budget traveler who relies on housesitting to save money, this should send a chill straight down your spine.
In response to the whole mess, the UK updated its travel guidance.
The new language warns that U.S. border officials enforce entry rules โvery strictlyโโand travelers who don’t play exactly by the rules could face arrest or detention.
France
While France stopped short of an official US travel warning, they let citizens know about the change in US visa requirements around sex and gender identity.
French authorities directed those with questions about completing an ESTA or visa application to the American embassy in Paris, which can help LGBTQ+ French navigate the changing guidelines.
US Travel Warning โ What’s the Impact?
As a queer and gender expansive person, I love that our allies our standing up for their LGBTQ+ citizens.
My government is actively erasing my right to exist on a daily basis. Watching countries stand up for their citizens gives me hope in difficult times.
Every travel warning speaks to the severity of the situation. The US is not a safe space for queer people, trans people, immigrants, and people of color. Many Americans who ‘thought they were safe’ are finding this out in painful and devastating ways.
It’s good common sense that other countries would want to protect their citizens from being denied entry because you disagree with Trump, or being detained by ICE.
These advisories arenโt just warnings, theyโre conversation starters.
They encourage travelers to ask when it’s worth it to take a stand for what we value, or whether we should visit a place that very clearly does not welcome people like us.
It asks us to be allies when it is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or annoying.
I’ve got my eyes on the prize. Less travel means less tourism revenue, and that hits the US โ and tourism-dependent states like Florida โ where it hurts.
Analyst are predicting a 5% drop in international travel under Trump โ reversing the previous prediction of travel to grow by 8% and giving a gut punch to the careening-toward-recession US economy.
Clapping back at Trumpism in the only language he and his allies truly understandโcold, hard cash โ might change things for the better.
