The National Immigration Project’s publication “HIV/AIDS and Immigrants: A manual for service providers, 2004 Edition” states that “Lawful permanent residents (those with a ‘green card’) who plan to travel outside the United States should be aware that all the inadmissibility grounds apply to them, including the HIV and public charge grounds, if they are gone for more than 180 days or have committed criminal acts in the US or abroad. Individuals in these categories should meet with an immigration advocate before they leave the United States.
Travel
As persons, freedom of abode, lodging or travel within or outside Kenya shall not be denied or restricted on the grounds only of the person’s actual, perceived or suspected HIV status. The law also states that no person shall be quarantined, placed in isolation refused lawful entry or deported from Kenya on the grounds only of the persons actual, perceived or suspected HIV status.
Many countries impose travel restrictions on HIV positive people entering the country. Protection of the public from communicable deasees is a traditional ground to deny would be visitors or immigrant’s entrance to countries. A common approach used by many countries requires those seeking to enter their country to declare their HIV status or submit to an HIV test.
Such entry restrictions and requirements for HIV declaration and testing are particularly unhelpful from a public health stand point. Unlike many other communicable diseases that may justify entry restrictions, HIV cannot be transmitted through casual contact. There is also no evidence that entry restrictions have a significant effect on the prevention of HIV transmissions.
The HAPCA section 33 limits the discretion that national governments and legal authorities have to restrict entry into their country as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned. This is because there is no legal or scientific evidence to suggest that such restrictions have a positive impact on the prevention of HIV transmission.
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