U.S To HIV+: Stay Out

The government has proposed new rules which will make it even harder for HIV+ persons to enter the country, according to Gay Men's Health Crisis and Immigration Equality.

On World AIDS Day last year, President Bush announced his intention to create a streamlined process for foreign travelers with HIV to enter the United States more easily. Currently the United States is one of only 13 countries in the world, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, which ban travel for individuals who are HIV-positive.

Now, almost a year later, DHS has proposed "streamlined" regulations which would make it even harder to get a short-term waiver, Immigration Equality and the Gay Men's Health Crisis say in a joint statement.

"Unfortunately, despite using the terms 'streamlined' and 'categorical,' in reality these regulations are neither," said Victoria Neilson, Legal Director of Immigration Equality.

Under the new rules, a visitor would need to travel with all the medication he would need during his stay in the U.S., prove that he has medical insurance that is accepted in the U.S. and would cover any medical contingency, and prove that he won't engage in behavior that might put the American public at risk. The maximum term of the waiver would be 30 days.

"More than two decades into this epidemic, the United States continues to stigmatize people with HIV and treat this illness unlike any other virus," said Neilson.

You have prove you won't engage in risky behavior? Why don't they just ask you to prove you won't get hit by a car? How do you prove you won't do something in the future? And even if you GET a waiver, you can only stay 30 days? Just outrageous.
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