New Zealand: Migrants May Face HIV Tests; Screening Review Under Way

New Zealand may force migrants to be tested for HIV and other infectious diseases before allowing them into the country. Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said it was too early to say whether all migrants who tested positive would have their residency applications rejected if mandatory testing were introduced. Last Tuesday, she said testing was a possible outcome of a review of the Immigration Services health screening practices, and she did not want to predetermine its findings. The review also considered whether the number of refugees with HIV coming into the country should be limited, she said.

HIV status is not presently counted as a criterion for refugee eligibility. Migrants are required to declare whether they have HIV in residency applications, and some are rejected on health cost grounds. Dalziel said she did not know how many people with HIV were allowed to become residents and how many applications were rejected. But she said refugees did have a higher incidence of HIV than other New Zealanders.

In three years through last June, 28 (1.25 percent) of the 2,230 refugees screened by the Immigration Service had HIV. Dalziel said Australia had introduced compulsory HIV testing more than ten years ago and rejected all residency applications from people testing positive. Canada also has mandatory testing, but allows HIV-positive family members of Canadian citizens to become residents.

New Zealand's former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere created controversy in 1999 when he proposed compulsory HIV testing and a ban on all prospective HIV-positive migrants. Dalziel slammed the proposal then. Her objection, she said, was that he "indicated you could keep HIV out of the country by imposing restrictions at the border." She said she does not believe she is doing an about-face by considering compulsory tests and a potential ban on migrants with HIV.

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