What are the immigration laws concerning hepatitis B? According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS), medical exams and vaccinations are required for visitors to the U.S. Physical exams for immigration screen specifically for tuberculosis, syphilis and HIV.
But where does this leave people with known chronic hepatitis B? After dozens of phone calls to different people, Dr. Karen Hennessey, an epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, spoke with B-Informed about this topic.
"The CDC makes recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security about infectious diseases that are of significance to public health," Hennessey said. "We are not responsible for enforcement; we simply make the recommendations. And hepatitis B is not on our watch list."
The UCIS website (http://uscis.gov) confirms that hepatitis B is not a communicable disease of "public health significance" for immigration purposes. The list only includes nine infectious diseases: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), tuberculosis, leprosy, HIV, syphilis, chancroid, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale and lympho-granuloma.
Immigration law requires that all individuals applying for permanent U.S. residency establish that they have been vaccinated against mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis B, influenza type B, pertussis, varicella, pneumococcal pneumonia, and influenza. Non-immigrant (or temporary) visa applicants are not required to comply with the vaccination requirements, but must if they later apply for change of status.
Exceptions to this rule include orphans age 10 and under who are applying for IR-3 visas (children adopted from abroad) or IR-4 visas (foreign-born children adopted within the U.S.). They are exempt from complying with the vaccination requirements before the visa is issued. But, these children are not exempt altogether. The adoptive parent must sign an affidavit that the child will be vaccinated within 30 days of arrival or at the earliest time that it is medically appropriate.
It appears that a "don't ask, don't tell" policy is the unspoken rule at the State Department, since no official contacted was willing to go on record saying that anyone would or would not be denied immigration because of their hepatitis B status. However, they agreed that no one should be denied, since hepatitis B is currently not on the immigration watch list for communicable diseases of "public health significance."
BInformed, Fall 2005.
