You can't become a US citizen if you are HIV positive?

really?? that really makes no sense at all.

I know the US excludes any immigrants or visitors from the US if they have HIV. Currently, HIV and TB are on the list of communicable diseases that warrant exclusion and deportation from the US if you are an immigrant/visitor.

Even that's a pretty stupid policy, but this is even more ridiculous.

 

Something I have wondered, why do restaurants put up signs warning customers of HIV-infected employees? First, i didn't think this was allowed or legal but there is a McDonald's in a city called Trumann, AR about 10 miles from my hometown (Jonesboro, AR) and they have a sign posted that says something similar to that.

 

Hopefully he can still get a semi-permanent visa. By virtue of its contractibility, though, AIDS is some pretty scary sh*t, can't say I'm 100% opposed to minimizing the influx of HIV positive individuals into our society, who may or may not have come from countries where safe-sex AIDs prevention education may not be very well-developed (although UK is probably not on that list). Be nice if we could get serious about AIDs prevention as well: if they could talk to me in elementary school about drug prevention, why not start talking about safe sex before Sophomore year in high school? How about free condoms in hotel rooms? How about the clean-needle thing (which I think they might already be doing in Canada)?

 

Be nice to hear from lawyers on this one, but it seems like there might be a liabilty issue if a customer somehow gets AIDs, also, from a public health standpoint it'd be easier to trace an unexplained infection. But obviously, from your account it's just McDonalds doing it, so maybe they're just mean, or worse, they have a previous HIV-related incident that they're trying to prevent in the future.

 

most countries will knock back people with serious medical conditions. it's all about money, ie burden on health care system.

 

I see no problem with that. Give us your tired, your poor. You can keep your diseased, thanks.

 

I don't know... I agree in principle, but HIV isn't easily spread. I say this with all due respect, but nowadays you have to practically be a dumbass to contract it. Don't get it on without a jimmy, don't use needles with anybody else, and stay the hell away from anyone else's blood. Seems pretty simple...

Now anything that is comparably dangerous and AIRBORNE, by all means keep out!

 

*meant to say jimmy hat

 

I wonder what his status is. To get a green card, you have to do a physical. He may have become a LPR before contracting HIV and now he can't pass a new physical for citizenship?

Up until the 90's, homosexuals were excludable.

 

And yet so many people don't get that which supposedly is the basis of American policy to exclude those with HIV.

However, ironically enough our policy probably makes things worse. American policy on HIV is a joke and one that serves to promote a stigma about HIV while pissing off other countries. We encourage stupid things like abstinence education which never worked here and doesn't work anywhere else. We refuse to fund sex education that teaches about contraception or safe sex and we sure as hell don't fund enough education regarding HIV transmission. We just have someone parrot the words "dont have sex" over and over and somehow hope that works.

Now beyond those dumb policies, HIV exclusion has served only to piss everyone off. The WHO won't even cooperate with us on HIV policy anymore because of our exclusion policies. Several countries have enacted similar policies in retaliation and several others have refused to accept American AIDS funding. A simple alternative would be to require mandatory sex and AIDS education programs for anyone found to be HIV positive as well as information regarding the procurement of needed drugs. Also, a lot of people who have sought treatment have actually been turned away because the waiver system designed to allow those who need treatment to get in is underfunded and as a result the processing time is ridiculous. This is all part of a larger policy of fear and stigma that surrounds AIDS that we promote in the US and internationally.

 

weird this topic comes up, but i have a take on this completely different than most:
11 yrs ago - right after i finished medical school - i took some time off and did some research at a hospital in bombay on pediatric HIV (actually sent by Univ of Texas school of public health...

in any event while i was there i met a girl - a physician also - and we got engaged and eventually married.

well when it came time for us to go to the u.s. embassy to apply for her spouse green card -(i'm a u.s. citizen) - she had to undergo HIV testing (as well as a TB test and a general physical) as mandated by INS.

back then, HIV testing wasn't as quick and accurate and on the first go round she came back borderline POS and so they had to do a more accurate western blot test that in India took 3 days to get back (ultimately confirmed she was NEG).

but those were 3 really miserable days. here i was a newlywed and not even sure my own country would welcome my wife... and of course she being a physician in india where gloves were rarely standard and india was still in denial about HIV we both knew that there was truly a chance it was really positive.

i understand the u.s. need for public health protection, but i hope we never become a country whose fear outweighs our compassion.....

 

I had to get an HIV test when I applied for a student visa to Argentina.

 

WHAT FOR? You're going to die anyway. Becoming a citizen of God is ideal.