After 22 years of immigration ban preventing anyone with HIV/AIDS from entering the U.S., the ban has finally come to an end. As of January 4, 2010, HIV infection is no longer defined as a communicable disease of public health signficance and HIV infection will no longer make an alien inadmissiable under 212(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is definitely a positive move, as President Obama said in the White House yesterday: “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of the only a dozen countries that still bar people with HIV from entering…if we want to be the global leader on combating HIV/AIDS we need to act like this”.
In the past, a person with HIV/AIDS who wanted to visit the US, would need to file a Waiver of Inadmissibility. The application usually involved a tremedous amount of stress and an application fee… Continue reading…