The first step to
ending the HIV travel ban in the United States has been taken
by the Obama administration. The Office of Management and
Budget posted a notice on its site Friday afternoon indicating
that the department of Health and Human Services could move
forward with steps to change a regulation that has restricted
HIV-positive people from gaining entrance into the United
States.
The first step to
ending the HIV travel ban in the United States has been taken
by the Obama administration. The Office of Management and
Budget
posted a notice on its site
Friday afternoon indicating that the department of Health and
Human Services could move forward with steps to change a
regulation that has restricted HIV-positive people from gaining
entrance into the United States.
The proposed change
will likely have an impact on both travel and immigration to
the United States. Under current regulations, non-U.S. citizens
who are HIV-positive cannot travel to the United States unless
they are granted a waiver by the Department of Homeland
Security. Immigrants have also been required to be tested for
HIV.
The actual regulatory
change, however, will not be available until next week, and
advocates are waiting to analyze the exact language.
"We won't know all of
the details until the HHS regulation is posted," said Steve
Ralls, communications director for Immigration Equality.
"Congress's intent was clear that this should be a clean lift
of the ban -- our hope is that will be reflected in the HHS
regulation."
Congress passed the
policy change last summer and President George W. Bush signed
it into law, but the Bush administration was unable to
implement the shift before leaving office. The actual change,
however, will likely not go into effect until sometime later
this year.
Once HHS publishes the
new regulation in the federal register next week, a 45-day
window will be opened for public comment, after which HHS may
make adjustments to the proposal and send it back to OMB for
budgetary approval. After OMB green-lights the final
regulation, HHS will once again enter the change into the
federal registry for another 30- or 60-day review period, at
which point it will automatically go into effect. In theory,
Congress could act to block the change during that time, but
that seems highly unlikely in this case.
All of which pushes the
change into mid fall at the earliest.
"We're hoping it will
take effect by the end of the year!" said Ralls.
So turn the wheels of
government.
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1