SUBJECT: Definition of Certain Classes of Medical Conditions and Other Updates Relating to Health-Related Grounds of Inadmissibility
Purpose U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding health-related grounds of inadmissibility in accordance with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rulemaking updating Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 34 (42 CFR 34).
USCIS is updating its guidance in Volume 8, Part B of the Policy Manual to reflect the changes to the HHS final regulation published on January 26, 2016 which became effective on March 28, 2016.
Accordingly, the updates made to the USCIS Policy Manual are effective as of March 28, 2016.
Policy Highlights:
- Updates the definition of a Class A condition, to include failure to present documentation of having received vaccinations against vaccine preventable diseases.
- Updates the definition of a Class B condition to “health conditions, diseases, or disability serious in degree or permanent in nature.”
- Updates the definition of physical and mental disorders with associated harmful behavior and the definition of drug abuse and drug addiction.
- Removes 3 medical conditions (chancroid, granuloma inguinale, and lymphogranuloma venereum) from the list of communicable diseases of public health significance that would render an applicant for immigration benefits inadmissible on health-related grounds of inadmissibility
