HIV taken off health standards for visas

A major hurdle for HIV-positive people seeking to move to New Zealand is to be lowered, with the Government removing the virus from a list of medical conditions deemed ‘‘likely to impose significant costs or demands’’ on the health services.

Immigration NZ chief medical officer Dr Rob Kofoed said removal of the condition meant the individual health circumstances of each visa applicant with HIV would be assessed on a ‘‘case by case’’ basis.

‘‘Previously, Immigration NZ was obliged to determine that a resident visa applicant with HIV did not have an acceptable standard of health,’’ he said.

Information from Immigration NZ, released under the Official Information Act, showed four residence visa and 10 temporary work visa applications were made by HIVpositive people over the past five years. Eight were approved.

But a number of people have also been removed from the country, including an Argentinian man who lost an appeal against deportation, despite arguing he would not be able to access the medication he needed in his country.

Kofoed said Immigration NZ would still include HIV testing as a requirement for visa applicants intending to stay in the country for more than 12 months.

Green MP Ricardo Menendez March said that for too long migrants living with HIV had been ‘‘stigmatised’’ and prevented from being able to obtain visas on the basis of their diagnosis.

Aotearoa was ‘‘playing catch-up to the rest of the world’’, with New Zealand being one of 19 countries where HIV testing or disclosure was required for work and residency permits, March said.

New Zealand’s acceptable health standards regime, which requires visa applications to meet certain wellness checks, had ‘‘discriminated against disabled migrants and people living with HIV’’, he said.