In Montenegro, the concept of a transgender person does not exist at all in the Law on the Register of Births and the Central Registry of the Population Act, however, these two laws regulate the procedure for changing personal documents in the case of a „gender change“ (Article 6 and 14, Articles 22 and 27). Regarding the legal gender recognition, in the Law on Births Register, Article 6 regulates the possibility of changing the registry of births in relation to „gender change“, ie changing personal data of transgender persons. Article 14 of the same law prescribes that the information entered in the registry is changed, amended or deleted on the basis of an executive or a final decision of the body competent for deciding on a change in the personal situation. The adoption procedure and decision criteria are not prescribed by sub-legal acts, nor by legal text, which leaves a gap in the application of the provision of Article 6 of the Matrix Registry Act in the part of the change of registry in case of „gender change“.

Therefore, the gender code and the ID number in personal documents can not be changed without performed surgical procedures. However, as the law does not clearly define this field, there were still no cases that someone tried to change this information in their documents without performing any operations. If you want to change the gender tag and ID number in your personal documents, the procedure is as follows:

• You apply for a change of the personal ID number and gender mark

 

• You will enclose with the application the following documents:

1. ID card
2. Evidence of „gender change“, that is, a medical institution’s report on performed surgical interventions of the gender affirming process
3. Decision of the MIA on canceling the old one and determining the new registration number after the adoption of the same

After submitting a request with accompanying documentation, you are waiting for a decision to change the gender mark. With this solution you can remove a new birth certificate, new identity card, driver card, new bank cards (some banks charge it), change data in banks, in tax, at school / faculty / business / bureau, etc.

Identification documents do not later indicate the change of the registration number and gender mark, but only the new registration number. The registration number is entered in the official records as well as the public documents issued to the person on the basis of these records. The Ministry does not keep a separate record on requests for sex change.

From 2017, in cooperation with Queer Montenegro and NGO Juventas, we are advocating for legal gender recognition without medical requirements. This is important step towards legal gender recognition based on self-determination. With these organizations, we presented draft of the Law on gender and sex identity, which, if adopted, will give the right to legal gender recognition for transgender people without medical interventions, in consultation with psychologist, as the only precondition, which is a significant step forward and a step towards legal recognition of the gender based on self-determination. In addition, the law would prohibit all unnecessary surgical interventions on intersex persons, introduce an additional „D“ gender mark for those who want it, but also regulated numerous rights related to family life and the prohibition of discrimination in various spheres of life.

If you happen to have a problem when changing a gender mark, please contact us, in order to provide you with support and help you to start the mechanisms which will ensure respect of your human rights.