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Senate Considers Lifting Travel Ban on HIV-positive Foreigners
Written by Kattrina Hancy Monday, 21 April 2008 20:26
As part of the bill that would reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief, the Senate is expected to consider, this month, lifting the travel ban on foreigners who are HIV positive.
While the U.S. donates billions of dollars to fighting AIDS internationally, it has one of the most restrictive immigration policies in the world for HIV-positive foreigners. Under U.S. law, all foreigners applying for immigrant visas must have an HIV test and all applying for a non-immigrant visa (short term, tourist) are required to disclose their HIV status. Those that are positive are prohibited from entering the country unless they apply and are approved for a (stringent) waiver. Only 13 other countries ban HIV positive people from entering their country and they include Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.
The ban is archaic and draconian and dates back to 1987 when information on HIV transmission was cloudy and the government made decisions that were based more on fear than on fact. By listing HIV as a “communicable disease of public health significance” the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) barred HIV-positive noncitizens from entering the country. In 1991, DHHS recommended lifting the ban on people with HIV and other STIs, but the proposal was dropped due to opposition in Congress. Then in 1993, Congress rescinded the right of DHHS to make decisions about admission of HIV-positive foreigners by passing legislation that labeled “infection with the etiologic agent for acquired immune deficiency syndrome” a disease of public health significance under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
This ban adds to the stigma that already surrounds HIV in the U.S. and may even discourage foreign students, refugees, and non-permanent residents already in the country, from getting tested or seeking treatment. The ban’s repeal is long over due and should have been overturned years ago.
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Information for this post came from:
San Francisco Chronicle
Congressional Bills: S. 2486 and HR. 3337 available at the Library of Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov)