HIV- NO LONGER A PROBLEM FOR IMMIGRANTS TO USA
The Department of Health and Human Services has lifted the ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by people who have tested positive for Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV).
Earlier, non-U.S. citizens who were HIV-positive were barred from traveling or immigrating to the country unless they were granted a waiver by the Department of Homeland Security. This amendment by the Department of Health and Human Services will now ensure that no alien who wants to visit or migrate to USA can be prevented from doing so on the grounds of having this disease.
The announcement to this effect was made by a determined President Obama. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule to amend its regulations to delete HIV infection from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance. Steps are also being taken to remove HIV medical examination from the list of tests to be undergone for USA immigration.
Though a serious health condition, HIV is not a communicable disease that is a significant public health risk. Hence there can be no grounds for not allowing a visitor or immigrant entry into the United States. The ban, implemented in 1987 and codified into law by Congress in 1993, to quote President Obama at the signing ceremony for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act, was “a decision rooted in fear rather than fact.”
The new rule will come into effect on January 4, 2010. Meanwhile, USCIS has asked its officials to suspend decisions on green card applications which were to be made solely on the basis of the HIV status of the applicant till the new law is implemented.
This decision to suspend the HIV Travel Ban will, no doubt, bring a ray of hope to the HIV-infected people who wish to enter the US.