USA HIV Travel Ban Consultation

posted: 27/07/2009

The notorious ban on people living with HIV from entering the USA is under official review. There is a  public consultation by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Have your say - opposition to removing the HIV ban is loud

So far many comments are opposed to the removal of the ban, so if removing this ban is important to you please consider posting your support message. 

Official information on the proposals and email them your comments - click the Submit Comments link on that page (this starts a blank email) or email your comments direct

You may like to say something like the statement by Paul Thorn, the Brighton-based HIV treatments access campaigner, who should have spoken at the Pacific health summit in Seattle in June, but was refused entry to the USA after stating his HIV status on his visa-waiver application. This statement was read out to that conference and was the immediate cause of the policy review that is now underway:

"The US government gives people who have HIV one of two choices. The first is to actually be dishonest on the visa application or visa-waiver form, commit a felony by lying to US immigration, and become a criminal. The second choice is to be honest, and have a visa rejected because you are considered an undesirable person, and unfit to enter the US. To my mind either being a criminal or an undesirable isn't much of a choice. I don't want to be either."

He points out that the question asking whether he was HIV positive on the visa-waiver form was alongside questions asking if he was a terrorist or Nazi.

You might add that the USA is rightly acting as a global leader in fighting HIV but this HIV travel ban is incompatible with world leadership on HIV. The ban contradicts the international UNAIDS policy.

Our report on the conference.

There is information on the current USA HIV entry rules here.

USA Entry Made Easier with HIV

posted: 30/09/2008

US immigration officials on Monday announced moves to ease and speed up visa-processing for HIV-positive visitors to the United States, months after a 21-year entry ban on people with the virus was lifted.

Under the new rules, US consular offices overseas will have the authority to grant temporary, non-immigrant visas to HIV-positive applicants who meet "all of the other normal criteria for the granting of a US visa," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.

Previously, people with HIV were banned from entering the United States unless they obtained a special waiver.

US consular officials will now have the authority to grant visas for short visits to otherwise eligible HIV-positive individuals without having to obtain a special “waiver.” But a visa must be obtained before travel to the US.

The new rule, called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Waiver Final Rule was announced on September 29^th and can be read here. It applies to people with HIV who wish to visit the US for up to 30 days.

HIV-positive individuals who wish to make short visits to the US will need to apply to their local US consulate. A visa will be granted if they meet all the normal conditions for the granting of a US visa. A granted visa will not mention HIV.

But US consular officials will have to be satisfied that HIV-positive visa applicants will not engage in activities in the US that will pose a threat to public health.

Eligible HIV-positive individuals will now be able to obtain a visa to visit the US on the same day as they have an interview with a consular official.

Citizens of the UK and many other countries can make short visits to the US without obtaining a visa in advance from the US consulate. This option will not be available to HIV-positive individuals who, under the new rules must obtain a visa before travelling.

"We're also accelerating the process by providing an additional avenue for temporary admission while maintaining a high level of security at our borders," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement.

President George W. Bush signed legislation in July which removed HIV from a list of diseases "of public health significance" that effectively barred any person infected with the virus that causes AIDS from entering the United States.

The ban on HIV-positive foreigners entering the United States had been in place since 1987.