On September 15, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced a new policy in anticipation of the amendment of law 42 CFR 34.2(b), which currently denies HIV positive individuals entry into the country. Pending approval of the amendment, USCIS officers are now instructed to hold waivers that would be otherwise be rejected solely due to the applicant’s HIV status.

Under law 42 CFR 34.2(b), HIV is included in a list of diseases that qualify as a “communicable disease of public health significance.” Any individual with a disease on the list is ineligible for a visa, and therefore ineligible to enter the United States.  Earlier this summer, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed an amendment to remove HIV from the list.

In a previously published article, Shruti Kalra wrote that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention does not consider HIV to be “communicable disease that is a significant threat for introduction, transmission, and spread to the U.S. population through casual contact.”

The remaining diseases on the list include: active tuberculosis, infectious leprosy, and the sexually transmitted infections chancroid, lymphogranuloma venereum, and granuloma inguinale.

For more information, please read the USCIS internal memorandum.