U.S. Government to Lift the HIV Travel Ban
The Kansas City Info Zine reported today that President Obama announced this past weekend that foreign nationals who are HIV+ will no longer be prevented from entering the U.S. solely because of their infection.
Additionally, those individuals will no longer be required to be tested for HIV as part of the required medical exam when pursuing an application for permament residence (green card).
This rule will be effective on January 4, 2010 and it is published in today’s Federal Register (PDF).
The lifting of the HIV travel ban will also result in amending the immigration law to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance and, to remove it as a ground of inadmissibility for foreign nationals wishing to enter the U.S.
The President commented that the rule change as:
“Effectively finishing the job started by the Bush administration when, in 2008, it endorsed the proposal to end the restrictions.”
This is now a major policy shift in which a ban that has been in place for over 20 years will now be lifted. We must now see if other countries who have had the same travel restrictions will also follow suit.
