Q. Will my being HIV-positive keep me from getting a green card?
Name withheld, Dallas
A. No. You can get permanent residence even if you test HIV-positive.
Immigrant visa applicants must undergo a medical exam that includes being tested for communicable diseases. The exam must be done by U.S government designated doctors. Only diseases that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determines are communicable diseases of public health significance bar a green card applicant from getting an immigrant visa.
On the HHS list are chancroid, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale, infectious leprosy, lympogranuloma venereum, infectious syphilis and active tuberculosis. HIV no longer is on the list.
Applicants who have a disease on the list may nevertheless get an immigrant visa if they qualify for a waiver of inadmissibility based on family relations in the United States. Applicants with treatable diseases, such as tuberculosis or syphilis, can become permanent residents once they are no longer contagious.
Q. How can I report my husband for marriage fraud? My husband used me to get a green card. I petitioned for him, and after having been together for several years, I learned that he is married with children with another on the way in his country. He stayed with me until he got his permanent, 10-year green card, but then left me. He has already applied for U.S. citizenship.
Name withheld, Montclair, N.J.
A. Unfortunately, I hear stories like yours far too often. And, far too often, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services can do little about it. USCIS can help only if your husband was legally married before he married you.
If that’s the case and they learn about it before he naturalizes, they will deny his naturalization application and try to take his green card away. If he manages to get U.S. citizenship before USCIS can act, the government may try to “denaturalize” him. You can report your husband online at uscis.gov/report-fraud/uscis-tip-form.
If your husband was not legally married to the woman abroad, USCIS may not be able to prove marriage fraud. You two have been together living as husband and wife. His having another relationship is not clear proof that your marriage wasn’t bona fide or “real.”