Removal of US entry ban for people with HIV moves a step closer

Hopes that restrictions on entry to the US for people with HIV will finally be removed were raised when the US Government indicated that it had completed a review of the removal of HIV from the list of communicable diseases that prevent entry to the US.

Once the regulations have been amended, HIV will no longer be a bar for entry to the US for visitors or migrants.

There will now be two periods of consultation, which could see the ban finally removed by late 2009.

“We are only one important step closer to finally ending this discriminatory ban once and for all,” said Joe Solmonese of Human Rights Campaign, a Washington DC-based advocacy organisation.

Almost a year ago, legislation that bans HIV-positive non-US citizens from entering the United States in all but exceptional circumstances was repealed. However, separate regulations dating from 1987 remained in place.

This meant that HIV-positive individuals could not enter the US even as tourists without first obtaining a visa. The process for obtaining a visa was recently streamlined, but there have been numerous reports of visas being refused and people with HIV being refused entry to the US if they travelled without the correct documentation.

Earlier this month British TB activist Paul Thorn, who is HIV-positive, revealed that he had been refused a visa after an invitation to speak at the Pacific Health Summit in Seattle.

Pressure to remove the travel ban has been mounting, and the International AIDS Society recently stated that the 2012 International AIDS Conference would be held in the Washington, but only if the travel ban was finally repealed.

It now looks likely that the regulations prohibiting entry to the US for HIV-positive travellers and migrants will removed. On June 26^th the Office of Management and Budget said that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could move forward with the revision of the regulations.

These revised regulations have not yet been published. Once they are, there is a lengthy and complex period of consultation and review. Firstly they will be open for public consultation for 45 days. The regulations can be amended by the Department of Health and Human Services to reflect comments. The revised regulations will then have to be returned to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. A further period of review lasting between 30 and 60 days will then follow, after which the revised regulation will come into effect.

Until this process is complete, individuals with HIV will still need to obtain a visa to legally enter the US.