HIV-positive man mistakenly denied tourist visa to Australia
A SCANDINAVIAN man who has been visiting Australia every year for 22 years was denied a tourist visa because he is living with HIV.
Eric* has been living with HIV since the 80s and along with his partner have visited Australia every year since 1994.
They spend at least three months here every year and have bought an apartment in Sydney.
In October 2015聽Eric and his partner began planning their yearly, three-month holiday to Australia but Eric’s tourist visa application was denied until he completed a medical check, including a HIV test.
It was during the medical check, which cost about AUD$800, that Eric began to face stigma because of his HIV status.
“Australian immigration authorities only say yes to this one place (to complete the medical check),” Eric said.
“He was looking down on me. Normal doctors (who are not HIV specialists) are not so positive.”
In December, the Medical Officer of the Commonwealth (MOC)聽concluded Eric should not be granted a tourist visa because he did “not satisfy” a section of the Migrant Regulations and his “disease or condition (HIV)…聽would be likely to require health care or community services”.
“Provision of these health care and/or community services would be likely to result in a significant cost to the Australian community in the areas of health care and/or community services,” the MOC said in their findings.
Eric told聽Star Observer聽he takes one medical pill daily for his HIV treatment and brings enough with him for his entire visit to Australia.
“Even though I have聽HIV, I am a healthy person,” he said.
In 22 years he has only once needed unexpected medical treatment after contracting a stomach bug in Laos, where he received an IV drip for a few hours at St Vincent’s聽Hospital in Darlinghurst, Sydney.
The聽60-year-old was outraged by the MOC’s findings and wrote to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) contesting the assessment. He was eventually awarded the tourist visa on January 4 this year.
“I had a doctor in Sydney assess my health and she said for someone with HIV my health couldn’t be any better,” Eric said.
“滨听don鈥檛 understand how you can鈥檛 standardise someone who has HIV but can with something like rheumatoid arthritis, they can be basically healthy and聽that person is totally different to someone crippled in a wheelchair.
“Isn鈥檛 this a singling out if it鈥檚 HIV?”
Eric said he expected a country like a Australia to be more progressive towards HIV and he felt he had been discriminated against.聽
“Someone鈥檚 saying: ‘you鈥檝e got HIV, we don鈥檛 want you here’,” he said.
“It was a real blow.”
However, the DIBP told聽Star Observer it “does not deny tourist visas because of an applicant鈥檚 HIV status“.
A spokesperson from the department admitted it had made an error while processing Eric’s visa.
“The department鈥檚 contracted medical service provider made an error in assessing the applicant incorrectly for a permanent stay in Australia rather than a short-term temporary stay,” he said.
奥丑别苍听Star Observer聽told Eric about the error, he said: “If it鈥檚 an error, well, then it feels a lot better. But of course who can guarantee that the same mistake won鈥檛 be made again?”
For Eric, the damage has been done. He and his partner will sell their Sydney holiday home and will now spend their annual holidays in Europe.
“I did feel hurt, very hurt, actually… the immigration department sending me to the medical checkup felt very degrading and at that time discriminatory,” he said.
“We will still have a positive view of Australia but聽deep down inside of me I felt a bit hurt.
“The immigration laws according to me, are crap.”
Eric said whether or not it was an administrative error, the experience dredged up a lot of the stigma he has experienced over the years a person living with HIV.
Positive Life NSW’s Treatments Officer David Crawford said “this experience tends to reinforce the broader community鈥檚 perception that HIV is still something to be feared and the myth it can restrict you from having a next to normal life compared to someone else with a chronic condition, for example diabetes”. 聽聽
“This is an example of the incorrect application of policy at the consumer level,” he said.
“People are subjected to this on a daily basis where a public servant has made up their own mind and not followed protocol.
“It causes psychological damage, damages self-esteem, anxiety and a range of other negative emotions and reactions.”
Crawford added that聽incidents like this discourage people from disclosing HIV, particularly in circumstances where they are required to by law, and increases the risk of its聽transmission.
HIV/AIDS Legal Centre coordinator and solicitor聽Suzanne聽Castellas said Australia’s immigration laws were discriminatory against people living with HIV, “particularly in relation to visas for terms greater than two years, and certainly in relation to permanent residency”.
“Although recent changes to immigration policies and practices in Australia have generally improved from the perspective of people with chronic health conditions which HIV is considered to be, the impact on HIV positive applicants still presents a variety of other challenges including additional costs, lengthy processing times and breaches of privacy,” she said.
The DIBP spokesperson said it would be contacting Eric “shortly to apologise and explain the details of the initial error made”.
In regards to reimbursing Eric for the costs incurred the spokesperson said “may wish to apply for compensation through the Compensation for Detriment caused by Defective Administration (CDDA) Scheme if he believes he has suffered detriment due to the defective actions or inaction of the Commonwealth Government”.
*Eric is a pseudonym. Eric did not want to use his real name, country of residence or profession for fear of being recognised by his clients.
Australia is the land of bigotry and bogans, with outdated views of the world!
Eric, I am truly sorry for the hurt caused by one ignorant employee of the government. I believe that their knowledge of HIV treatment should be updated, and that the staff member concerned should be retrained.
I am not a government official or even work for the government, but as an Australian citizen, I seek forgiveness. My partner is from overseas, and it is incredible the hoops he had to go through to get permanent residency. I have a friend who is from China and contracted HIV on his first ever sexual experience. He is as fit as a bull, but because he has HIV, he is having to have a bank balance way beyond that of most Australians, and proof that he has stable income before even being given permanent residency. Like you, he takes just one tablet a day and is really not a burden on the resources of our rich nation.
I do hope you will continue to make Sydney your home for the three months of the year that you are able to. It seems you come for our sun and our mardi gras, these are big things to give up over the inconsiderate attitude of our government.
If Australia approved PREP, we would not be in this mess! But thanks to a bigoted Liberal government, both PREP and marriage equality – will not happen at least, for the next 4 years!
MIGRATION ACT 1958 – SECT 60
Medical examination
(1) If the health or physical or mental condition of an applicant for a visa is relevant to the grant of a visa, the Minister may require the applicant to visit, and be examined by, a specified person, being a person qualified to determine the applicant’s health, physical condition or mental condition, at a specified reasonable time and specified reasonable place.
(2) An applicant must make every reasonable effort to be available for, and attend, an examination.
Wow Australia in 2016; has a ban on HIV positive migrants/immigration, a ban on marriage equality and still the TGA has not approved PREP! What is wrong with my country? I am embarrassed to be Australian!
Australian migration laws are unfair and filled with discrimination. I was denied visa because they said I didn’t have evidence of travel to specific country with similar immigration law enforcement as Australia. I read the Australian law and found nothing. The officials simply work on their ego.
Not ego, put power!
Well for a second there, I thought it was Tony Abbott trying to get back into Australia! He seems to have the HIV, the human ignorance virus! I said this man can not ever be trusted in Australia! He just came back from an extremist christian cult who want to get rid of us LGBTI people in America! He should be immediately arrested by the Australian federal police! They advocate on the same lines as ISIS on bringing back the death penalty for sodomy, allowing more guns or open carry, abortion restrictions, allowing more religious exemptions and abolishing discrimination and hate crime laws. They even want to overturn both the 1973 abortion decision and the 2015 marriage decision of SCOTUS!
Well welcome to Australia, where we have outdated immigration and marriage laws! Australia federally needs to approve PREP, marriage equality and open up HIV-positive immigration! My country is an embarrassment!