Manoj Shahi, who now prefers to be called Monica Shahi, has become the first person in Nepal to be issued a passport in which the applicant marked the gender as ‘other’.
This was revealed by Nepal’s Department of Passports.
According to Himalaya Times, Manoj, who is yet to collect the passport, applied for it after undergoing gender reassigning surgery.
The law in Nepal requires that an applicant who states gender as ‘other’ must first have a citizenship certificate showing a similar status.
Nepal had first allowed for applicants to identify as third gender in the census and citizenship card in 2011 before extending it to passports in January this year.
India, Australia and New Zealand are known to also allow applicants to list their gender as neither male nor female.
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