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Author Topic: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!  (Read 29031 times)

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Offline Alain

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  • Posts: 679
  • I am.
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #50 on: July 31, 2008, 05:52:19 am »
"sigh"

Offline DanKenny

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  • Posts: 147
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #51 on: July 31, 2008, 09:10:27 am »
I absolutely agree...it was smart for Kerry and others to peg this amendment to the PEPFAR Bill....

This is an ecstatic news:   I can't agree with Lydgate anymore:  as a non-US citizen (aka alien), it was difficult to visualize life here without the green card.  At times, it feels as if all the decks are stacked against you.

The signing into law is but one step towards a fuller implementation by the DHHS.  Lets keep our fingers crossed...

Blessings !!




what they're tooting their horn about is the HIV funding  to Africa.

They're being real quiet about the immigration issue.  They don't want to stir the masses.

Believe me, had this been soley an immigration issue, it would never gotten out of committee.

robert


My Progress:

09/07:   771   ~    <50     ~   29%
03/07:   493   ~    227      ~   22%
02/07:   Began Meds ~~ ATRIPLA
01/07:   315   ~   45, 000  ~   18%
10/06:   350   ~   32, 430  ~   22%
04/06:   440   ~   23, 997  ~   24%
07/05:   621   ~   36,000   ~   24%
01/05:   842   ~   2306      ~   28%
07/04:   615   ~   3370      ~   27%
04/04:   674   ~   739        ~   26%
11/03:   439   ~   2800      ~   22%
Infected probably around 1997 / Diagnosed 2002

Offline Iggy

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  • Posts: 2,434
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #52 on: July 31, 2008, 12:15:32 pm »
what they're tooting their horn about is the HIV funding  to Africa.

They're being real quiet about the immigration issue.  They don't want to stir the masses.

Believe me, had this been soley an immigration issue, it would never gotten out of committee.

robert

Yep.  It saddens me how much this has been a non-issue, something to avoid/not touch, or even just considered an pesky but unimportant annoyance not worth attention by many, including fellow people with HIV.

Though it bothers me the process of how it had to be approved, I am certainly happy that it finally has been passed by congress.


Offline newbie76

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  • Posts: 238
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #53 on: August 20, 2008, 04:31:15 pm »
Hi all,

I feel a bit bad for bumping this up, but this seems to be the best news us HIVers have had for a while and it's a pity the thread is now on page 4!

Has anything else happened in these last 20 days (since the last post)?

When can we realistically expect for the ban on HIV+ people entering the US to be lifted?
25th Apr 07: The worst day of my life
27th Apr 07: cd4 202 14%
30th Apr 07: cd4 126 18% VL 110000
19th May 07: Started Truvada/Sustiva
20th Jun 07: cd4 218 25% VL 435
13th Aug 07: cd4 374 20% VL 64
20th Dec 07: cd4 435 24% VL <50
20th Oct 08: cd4 725 31% VL <50
30th Nov 09: cd4 725 30% VL <50
01st Nov 10: cd4 755 33% VL<50
11th Nov 11: cd4 754 32% VL<50
01st May 12: cd4 864 40% VL<50
01st May 13: cd4 615 VL 609 :-/
14th May 13: VL <50

Offline keyite

  • Member
  • Posts: 514
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #54 on: August 20, 2008, 04:56:15 pm »
The lifting of ban left it to the US Dept of Health & Human Services to determine if HIV should remain on the list of conditions that prevent entry - as far as I know they've not yet acted to remove it. Word is the Sec of State for that Dept is a Bush faithful so hopefully they will get the finger out soon.

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • Posts: 24,793
  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #55 on: August 20, 2008, 06:01:03 pm »
link

While President George W. Bush signed legislation that repealed a law banning HIV-positive travelers from entering the US, reversing the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that originally established that ban could take months or it may not happen until a new administration takes the White House.

Advertisement
"From the best that we can see, even if they wanted to and I have no doubt that they want to, the president cannot simply order [HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt] to take it off the list," said Ronald Johnson, deputy director of AIDS Action, a Washington-based lobbying group. "There is a rule-making process that needs to be followed."

The ban was created by a 1987 HHS regulation that added HIV to the list of communicable diseases that bar visitors. A 1993 law required HHS to keep HIV on the list.

On July 30, the president signed the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which will spend $50 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in developing nations and included a provision repealing the 1993 law.

To remove HIV from the list, it appears that HHS will have to promulgate a new regulation in the Federal Register, where proposed federal rules are published. After the proposed rule first appears there, a 30, 60, or 90-day comment period follows and only then is the rule finalized.

"We'll be reviewing what steps we need to take to implement the new law, including whether or not a posting in the Federal Register is needed," an HHS spokesman wrote in an email.

Further complicating that process is a May 9 memo from Joshua Bolten, the White House chief of staff, to all federal agencies telling them that any new regulations for the remainder of the Bush administration had to be proposed by June 1 and finalized by November 1. The only exceptions were for "extraordinary circumstances," Bolten wrote. While the memo is not a rule or law, it is an additional hurdle that any proposed regulation must overcome.

"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #56 on: August 20, 2008, 06:02:57 pm »
20 Aug 2008 11:25 am

Immigration Equality and 185 groups call on Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to end the HIV travel ban.

http://immigrationequality.org/blog/?p=574
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline newbie76

  • Member
  • Posts: 238
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #57 on: August 21, 2008, 06:45:09 am »
Thank you for these latest updates. It sounds like the road is still uphill and rather winding  :'(
25th Apr 07: The worst day of my life
27th Apr 07: cd4 202 14%
30th Apr 07: cd4 126 18% VL 110000
19th May 07: Started Truvada/Sustiva
20th Jun 07: cd4 218 25% VL 435
13th Aug 07: cd4 374 20% VL 64
20th Dec 07: cd4 435 24% VL <50
20th Oct 08: cd4 725 31% VL <50
30th Nov 09: cd4 725 30% VL <50
01st Nov 10: cd4 755 33% VL<50
11th Nov 11: cd4 754 32% VL<50
01st May 12: cd4 864 40% VL<50
01st May 13: cd4 615 VL 609 :-/
14th May 13: VL <50

Offline Iggy

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  • Posts: 2,434
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #58 on: August 21, 2008, 09:40:25 am »
It says a lot about the current administration that they would drag their feet on this. 

Just disgusted.


Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #59 on: August 21, 2008, 10:16:05 am »
You expected any different?  I hate to be the eternal pessimist on the board (and I'm not, just a realist) but I don't see anything changing until the next administration on this bureaucratic final level.  Nothing is instant in a government as large as the one in DC.  And considering that there are 2 wars going on, a looming recession and other large financial crises, and the height of election season there are priorities that are a bit more important than assuring some queen can get through customs with a bottle of Atripla.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline Iggy

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Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #60 on: August 21, 2008, 10:39:17 am »
No.  I agree with you, and frankly admit anger at my own hope that this would move quicker.

I'm happy that the big battle of getting the legislation passed and signed has been accomplished, but just disgusted at the pointless delay.

Offline LFC

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  • Posts: 6
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #61 on: September 15, 2008, 10:20:38 am »
 :'(
If this goes a head and they don't make us jump through hoops then I'll be able to visit my sisters in Florida, and have more choice of flights to central america next year.
But I'll wait and see.....
P

Offline keyite

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  • Posts: 514
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #62 on: September 30, 2008, 09:19:58 am »
HIV no longer bar to granting of US visa for short visits

Being HIV-positive will no longer be a bar to the granting of a visa to visit the USA, according to new rules issued by the US Department of Homeland Security.

US consular officials will now have the authority to grant visas for short visits to otherwise eligible HIV-positive individuals without having to obtain a special “waiver.” But a visa must be obtained before travel to the US.

The new rule, called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Waiver Final Rule was announced on September 29th and can be read here. It applies to people with HIV who wish to visit the US for up to 30 days.

How utterly disappointing. One step forward, one step back.. :(

Offline wishihadacat

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    • Therainstorm.com
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #63 on: September 30, 2008, 04:27:53 pm »
This is the link to the DHS "summary" of rules as changed:

 http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hiv_waiver_finalrule.pdf


The new Department of Homeland Security rule still requires anyone with HIV to declare it when they apply for a visa. The actual implementation of the rule will have a government worker looking at your past. The rule is published in the official section of U.S. law (the "C.F.R."), but the government's description of it is troubling. The government is properly protecting it's citizens by requiring travelers to declare that they have readily communicable dangerous diseases, but retaining HIV, which is NOT casually communicable,  as a condition that must be declared on every visa application, isn't in the spirit of the PEPFAR amendment and, to put it bluntly. stinks.

Write your representatives. Email them. Call their in-laws. They will be preoccupied with the economy, but the fact is that the language of the rule perpetuates the stigma, and must be changed. No man, woman or child should have to report to the United States Government that they are HIV positive.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2008, 07:47:09 pm by wishihadacat »
Your name here  X_______________

Offline BassMan

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  • Gran Canaria 2006
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #64 on: October 01, 2008, 04:31:02 am »
If my understanding of this is correct (and please feel free to correct me if it isn't!), this is only designed to be a stop-gap measure until the HHS removes HIV from the list of communicable diseases, after which time it will become redundant.

There are two processes going on here simultaneously. One is the complete repeal of the travel ban attached to the PEPFAR bill; the other is Bush's directive from 2006 to provide a "streamlined" visa application process for HIV positive people.

As we all know, the recent PEPFAR bill removed the legal requirement for HIV to be listed as "a communicable disease of public health significance." As such, it is now quite correctly (imo) up to the HHS to decide whether it should be so listed, and in fact the HHS has already stated its intention to remove it from the list. However until it does so, a waiver is still required as we are still technically classed as having a communicable disease - hence this measure. The summary of rules seems almost to acknowledge its own imminent redundancy and puts it thus: "This regulation will permit short term admission while HHS completes a rulemaking to remove HIV from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance." This "HIV Final Rule" seems to be just the culmination of the 2006 directive.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the PEPFAR bill removed the legal requirement for HIV to be on the HHS list, so, the sticking point now seems to be the HHS. Once they get their shit together, this final waiver rule can be consigned to the dustbin. We will no longer be considered to have a significant communicable disease and will therefore not need to apply for any special waivers, and those of us who travel from visa waiver countries will be able to take advantage of that.

It is disappointing that at the current time the HHS hasn't yet done what it said it would do, which would have removed the need for this waiver rule, but at least the current situation is better than before. Previously we would almost certainly have been denied a visa; now, it seems, we will be granted one on the day of application (providing we're not excluded for any other reasons).

Personally, I think I'll sit it out a bit longer and wait for the HHS. Perhaps it's the HHS that should be the focus of any pressure now?

Carl,
Manchester, UK
Diagnosed December 2002
CD4 810 VL 750,000

Started meds October 2004
CD4 405 VL >100,000

Latest Results: October 2009
CD4 888 38%, VL undetectable
on fosamprenavir/ritonavir & Truvada

VL undetectable since November 2005

Offline komnaes

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Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #65 on: October 01, 2008, 04:52:40 am »
After reading all the fine prints I don't think it changes anything.. bummer..
Aug 07 Diagnosed
Oct 07 CD4=446(19%) Feb 08 CD4=421(19%)
Jun 08 CD4=325(22%) Jul 08 CD4=301(18%)
Sep 08 CD4=257/VL=75,000 Oct 08 CD4=347(16%)
Dec 08 CD4=270(16%)
Jan 09 CD4=246(13%)/VL=10,000
Feb 09 CD4=233(15%)/VL=13,000
Started meds Sustiva/Epzicom
May 09 CD4=333(24%)/VL=650
Aug 09 CD4=346(24%)/VL=UD
Nov 09 CD4=437(26%)/VL=UD
Feb 10 CD4=471(31%)/VL=UD
June 10 CD4=517 (28%)/VL=UD
Sept 10 CD4=687 (31%)/VL=UD
Jan 11 CD4=557 (30%)/VL=UD
April 11 CD4=569 (32%)/VL=UD
Switched to Epizcom, Reyataz and Norvir
(Interrupted for 2 months with only Epizcom & Reyataz)
July 11 CD=520 (28%)/VL=UD
Oct 11 CD=771 (31%)/VL=UD(<30)
April 12 CD=609 (28%)/VL=UD(<20)
Aug 12 CD=657 (29%)/VL=UD(<20)
Dec 12 CD=532 (31%)/VL=UD(<20)
May 13 CD=567 (31%)/VL=UD(<20)
Jan 14 CD=521 (21%)/VL=UD(<50)

Offline Iggy

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Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #66 on: October 01, 2008, 08:55:57 am »
I agree with Carl's (Bassman's) take on the changes both as far as the stopgate measure until the HHS removes HIV from it's list and where the pressure needs to be focused (HHS) to have that done.

I think this is a lot more significant then is being recognized.   The whole process is so bureaucratic that it requires (unfortunately by Washington's very structure) a series of bureaucratic/policy correction steps to fully complete this change,  this latest represents the second(Pepfar bill being the first) progressive and culminate movement in the right direction.

I hope that with the change in administration in January this will be finalized and the restrictions in the HHS structure on HIV+ people will be removed.

Offline DanKenny

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Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #67 on: October 06, 2008, 09:06:44 pm »
Inching closer, one step at a time: poco-a-poco....

http://kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=54834

Opinion | HHS 'Preparing Revised Rule' on HIV-Positive Visitors to U.S., Letter to Editor Says
[Oct 06, 2008]

      A recent Washington Post editorial "incorrectly asserted" that HHS "still has to decide" to modify regulations "so that HIV-positive noncitizens may be admitted to the United States," CDC Director Julie Gerberding writes in a Post letter to the editor. According to Gerberding, HHS has "clearly stated" its "intent to remove HIV infection as an inadmissible condition for entering the United States." She adds, "We are already preparing the revised rule." In addition, because the "rulemaking process requires a public comment period, which takes time to do, the Bush administration took an interim step" last week, Gerberding writes, adding that the Department of Homeland Security, "after seeking extensive public comment, published a final draft rule that streamlines the waiver process permitting HIV-positive individuals to visit the United States." According to Gerberding, the DHS rule "would make it easier for them to gain admission to our country for up to 30 days, whether they visit as tourists or participants at HIV/AIDS conferences." The Bush administration is "committed to removing HIV infection as soon as possible from the list of communicable diseases that prohibit entry to the United States -- a fact demonstrated by this interim step and the process underway at HHS," Gerberding concludes (Gerberding, Washington Post, 10/6).



Lets keep our fingers crossed and pray..

from DK
My Progress:

09/07:   771   ~    <50     ~   29%
03/07:   493   ~    227      ~   22%
02/07:   Began Meds ~~ ATRIPLA
01/07:   315   ~   45, 000  ~   18%
10/06:   350   ~   32, 430  ~   22%
04/06:   440   ~   23, 997  ~   24%
07/05:   621   ~   36,000   ~   24%
01/05:   842   ~   2306      ~   28%
07/04:   615   ~   3370      ~   27%
04/04:   674   ~   739        ~   26%
11/03:   439   ~   2800      ~   22%
Infected probably around 1997 / Diagnosed 2002

Offline Iggy

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Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #68 on: October 07, 2008, 08:03:07 am »
DK,

Thanks for that update as I missed that.  It does seem to match Bassman's and my take on the situation.

Here's hoping that the day is near when the ban will be history.

Offline newbie76

  • Member
  • Posts: 238
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #69 on: December 25, 2008, 05:39:38 pm »
Hello everybody and Merry Xmas. I was wondering if there have been any development on the ban lift for foregins HIV+ wanting to visit the US.

The cover story of POZ today says this:

"The good news: the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was reauthorized (to the tune of $48 billion) and the U.S. travel ban against HIV-positive visitors was (almost completely) lifted."

http://www.poz.com/articles/2031_AIDS_epidemic_2271_15615.shtml

Amost completely?? Either it has or it hasn't and as far as I know so far it hasn't... am I missing something?
25th Apr 07: The worst day of my life
27th Apr 07: cd4 202 14%
30th Apr 07: cd4 126 18% VL 110000
19th May 07: Started Truvada/Sustiva
20th Jun 07: cd4 218 25% VL 435
13th Aug 07: cd4 374 20% VL 64
20th Dec 07: cd4 435 24% VL <50
20th Oct 08: cd4 725 31% VL <50
30th Nov 09: cd4 725 30% VL <50
01st Nov 10: cd4 755 33% VL<50
11th Nov 11: cd4 754 32% VL<50
01st May 12: cd4 864 40% VL<50
01st May 13: cd4 615 VL 609 :-/
14th May 13: VL <50

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #70 on: December 25, 2008, 05:54:49 pm »
No, it's not lifted yet and I explained what further needs to be done here:

http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=21378.msg288618#msg288618

Read the last sentence carefully, taking care to notice that the President signed off on this 2 months after the June 1 cut off for new regulations on an outgoing administration.

It seems at most, when reading the Kaiser Network link provided in someone's 6 October 2008 link that HHS has done some preliminary paperwork.  I would think that the rest must be done by the incoming Obama administration, more specifically whoever replaces Leavitt at HHS.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 05:59:35 pm by Miss Philicia »
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline newbie76

  • Member
  • Posts: 238
Re: Optimistic about HIV travel/immigration ban being lifted soon!
« Reply #71 on: December 29, 2008, 11:38:40 am »
Thank you Miss Philicia. Going to read your post more carefully now.
25th Apr 07: The worst day of my life
27th Apr 07: cd4 202 14%
30th Apr 07: cd4 126 18% VL 110000
19th May 07: Started Truvada/Sustiva
20th Jun 07: cd4 218 25% VL 435
13th Aug 07: cd4 374 20% VL 64
20th Dec 07: cd4 435 24% VL <50
20th Oct 08: cd4 725 31% VL <50
30th Nov 09: cd4 725 30% VL <50
01st Nov 10: cd4 755 33% VL<50
11th Nov 11: cd4 754 32% VL<50
01st May 12: cd4 864 40% VL<50
01st May 13: cd4 615 VL 609 :-/
14th May 13: VL <50

 


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