POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: 072508 on November 23, 2009, 05:55:27 am
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So i am thinking about transfering with my job from the USA to Spain, on the Spain Labor Visa Requirement page it says an Official medical certificate is needed. Is this just so they are aware of my condition? or so they can tell me I can move to their country. I was also looking at Portugals requirements and theirs says official medical transcript showing no contagious diseases, so Portugal would be out of the question Im assuming.
Also, I am travel to Portugal in January, am I going to have any trouble traveling there with my medication?
Any help would be great.
Thanks!
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Before you jump to conclusions on Portugal, I would ask the embassy to define contagious. HIV is transmisable but is not a contagious disease. Flu is contagious.
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The following website has some good information about travel & HIV:
http://plwha.org/
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I am from the uk , live in spain but have family in portugal and have spent alot of time there,here in europe i think all countries have the same laws if they are a member of the european community here there are no borders as such between spain and portugal not even 1 policemen.Portugal is alot cheaper to live than spain up to 50% i would say but pay is lower but both countries are fantastic places to live
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so based on the website that someone posted it looks like there arent any restrictions for me moving to portugal. i will confirm with the consolate/embassy. is there any website or way to find out if my medication (Atripla) is available in spain or portugal?
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my dear friend, i am sometimes amazed with how little people over there in the US know about europe
once you enter the EU, you are free to go where you want, there are no internal borders.
off course if you want to live here, i suppose you need some visa, but that has nothing to do with you being hiv or not.
as good as all the medication which is available in the US is also available in the EU, most of the time a a lower price to, sometimes however it's sold under a different name, but you can find the generic names even on this website.
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off course if you want to live here, i suppose you need some visa, but that has nothing to do with you being hiv or not.
Really? So no country in the EU requires testing for HIV or submission of a medical exam that may or may not requires disclosure of your status? I think that's the issue here!
I don't think it's that simple, as immigration rules (particularly for residency/work permits) can differ from country to country within the EU.
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I don't think it's that simple, as immigration rules (particularly for residency/work permits) can differ from country to country within the EU.
The provision of healthcare also differs from country to country within the EU.
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so based on the website that someone posted it looks like there arent any restrictions for me moving to portugal. i will confirm with the consolate/embassy. is there any website or way to find out if my medication (Atripla) is available in spain or portugal?
I started atripla two weeks ago here in spain the pvp price on the bottle of 30 pills says approx 750 euros all hiv medication distribution and hiv docs work through the local public city hospitals . My experience has been fine after 12 months . Contact your local spanish embassy or consul im sure you wont be the first to ask these questions.
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you also should remember that folks from the EU have a health card that enables them to recip health care ie UK and Spain, however as an American you will not be able to share this. so hope you have good private insurance otherwise that little bottle of atripla will be about 1200.00 per month
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It's basically two different questions here, right?
1) What is the policy of a country (in this case Portugal) toward visitors, i.e. tourists, who have HIV?
2) What is the policy of a country (in this case Portugal) toward those who want to immigrate and live there?
I think the link that I included above does cover both situations but it can't possibly be that easy to just move somewhere under normal circumstances, let alone if one has a condition that may not be infectious the way that Influenza is infectious, but does require expensive medications and health care.
To the OP, you might also want to look at what ARV medications are even available as part of their health care system. Usually in countries with limited means, such as Portugal, the choices are limited and don't include the latest and best of the combinations.
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First of all. Neither Portugal nor Spain have an HIV travel ban for turists (in fact, no EU country has), so all pozzies can travel freely whithin its borders.
Regarding immigration policies, neither Spain nor Portugal have an specific rule that exclude hiv-positive people from immigrating. However, some types of visas may require you to proof you have health insurance.
Only people who have infectious diseases (meaning diseases subject to quarantine) are banned for public health reasons.
In Spain HIV treatment is supplied free of charge by the NHS, which is financed by taxes. You may be required to register at the City council to access treatment, but it is just a formality and normally you're not even asked for it.
Regarding treatment options in Spain, all ARV meds approved within the EU are available, which of course includes Atripla (this is the combo I'm in).
For further information: http://gtt-vih.org/files/active/0/InfoV_ing_26.pdf (http://gtt-vih.org/files/active/0/InfoV_ing_26.pdf)
Inchlingblue: I would be really surprised if availability of ARV medications in Portugal were different than in Spain. If you think Portugal is a "a country with limited means" (which one isn't, by the way?) maybe you should reevaluate what you know about it ;)
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so all pozzies can travel freely whithin its borders.
Pozzies who are already resident in EU countries can travel "feely within its borders", but this is not necessarily true of non EU residents. Again, health care provisions differ - and sometimes greatly - between EU nations.
If you're thinking of moving to an EU country, you're going to have to do your homework.
Ann
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Inchlingblue: I would be really surprised if availability of ARV medications in Portugal were different than in Spain. If you think Portugal is a "a country with limited means" (which one isn't, by the way?) maybe you should reevaluate what you know about it ;)
It's possible that they might supply Atripla for free (and Isentress and Truvada and Maraviroc and Reyataz and Prezista and Norvir and all the other top-of-the-line HIV drugs), I'm just saying it's worth making sure first. Portugal is a wonderful and beautiful country but it's not a rich country by any stretch of the imagination.
GDP growth in 2006, at 1.3%, was the lowest not just in the European Union but in all of Europe. In the 2000s, the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia have all overtaken Portugal in terms of GDP per head. And Portuguese GDP per head has fallen from just over 80% of the EU 25 average in 1999 to just over 70% in 2007. This poor performance of the Portuguese economy was explored in April 2007 by The Economist which described Portugal as "a new sick man of Europe".[5] From 2002 to 2007, the unemployment rate increased 65% (270,500 unemployed citizens in 2002, 448,600 unemployed citizens in 2007).
LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Portugal
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Pozzies who are already resident in EU countries can travel "feely within its borders", but this is not necessarily true of non EU residents.
I'm sorry if I didn't explain myself clear enough: I was only saying there is no hiv travel ban in any EU country (for tourism).
I do not claim to know the immigration policy of all EU states regarding HIV, that's a different subject which may vary from country to country. However, I do know neither Spain nor Portugal have any special provision in their immigration policies against hiv positive people.
Again, health care provisions differ - and sometimes greatly - between EU nations.
Yep, I agree 100%. The information I provided about health care only applies to Spain. Your millage may vary (and probably will) in any other EU country.
It's possible that they might supply Atripla for free (and Isentress and Truvada and Maraviroc and Reyataz and Prezista and Norvir and all the other top-of-the-line HIV drugs), I'm just saying it's worth making sure first. Portugal is a wonderful and beautiful country but it's not a rich country by any stretch of the imagination.
I'm afraid I may have jumped at you too readily. Your comment reminded me of one of those situations in which an American was making a big show of explaining me what a washing machine is. Has happened to me more than once. ;)
However, I did not say hiv meds are given for free in Portugal, I do not know how their health care system is set up. I did only say it about Spain, though my believe is that ARV availability in Portugal is broadly similar to that of Spain (though not necessarily its price).
Anyway, fyi, Issentress, maraviroc, truvada, atripla, etc are provided free of charge in Spain, to residents, regardless of nationality and immigration status.
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Your comment reminded me of one of those situations in which an American was making a big show of explaining me what a washing machine is. Has happened to me more than once. ;)
hehehe... similar has happened to me. I've had people as me if we have things like televisions, dvd players, washing machines, mobile phones, internet and/or computers (duh, how do you think I'm communicating with you on an internet forum?), etc. here on the Rock. I suppose I was probably guilty of the same sort of "we're the only modern, civilised place on the planet" type thinking before I started broadening my horizons and moved out of the States. :D
Oh, and thanks for the clarification on that other matter.
Ann