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Entry restrictions
Find out if a country you are planning to visit has any entry restrictions for people with HIV. It’s generally well known that you cannot visit the USA if you are HIV-positive except in very special circumstances. But other countries also place restrictions on either temporary or long-term visits by individuals with HIV.
The most reliable way of finding out if a country you want to visit restricts entry by people with HIV is to call the embassy or consulate. If you do this, you should not reveal your name or the fact that you are HIV-positive to them. An HIV advocacy or support agency might be willing to do this for you. You might also consider contacting an HIV service organisation in the country you are thinking of traveling to and enquire about entry restrictions. NAM's AIDS Organisations Worldwide and European AIDS Directory provide listings of major HIV organisations with contact details.
If a country you want to travel to does have entry restrictions, then you need to decide if you want to take the risk of travelling. If you look ill, or are a gay man or an African, you might be more likely to be stopped by customs or immigration, and if they establish that you are HIV-positive, they will probably refuse entry and deport you. Similarly, if you have haemophilia and are travelling with clotting factors or injecting equipment, it’s likely that customs officers will question you about your HIV status.
If you are a citizen of an EU country, or have the right to live in an EU country, then there should be no restrictions on your admittance to another EU member state. But because you receive free HIV care in the UK doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be entitled to it in the country you are visiting.
If you are planning a long-term visit or permanent move to another country, make sure at a very early stage in your planning that your HIV status isn’t going to be a problem. A good place to start would be to contact an HIV service organisation in the country you want to move to. NAM's AIDS Organisations Worldwide and European AIDS Directory list major organisations that you might want to consider contacting.