Q and A

Question

Question on marriage in a country with an HIV ban

4 May 2011. Related: All topics, HIV testing, Travel.

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Thanks for posting a question  and allowing us to post the answer online.

It might be good to start by finding answers to the things that are worrying you now and this includes both your HIV status and information about the country where you want to move.

If you think you might be HIV-positive then it would be better to find this out now – both for you and your partner. Doing this in your own country where you know how to access free and anonymous testing (if this is what you want) will be much easier and much less stressful.

While you need to find out whether HIV status is used in immigration criteria in the country you want to move to, marrying your partner without knowing each others HIV status is more important for your future marriage that whether you can legally get residency. I wondered whether you have discussed this with your prospective partner?

Many people worry about HIV who turn out to be HIV-negative, so this would stop further stress and worry given that marriage can be stressful enough. If you are HIV-postive then at least you know what you are dealing with, becasue your future concerns will need you include your own healthcare.

Once you know your status you can then look at practicalities of residency etc.

You can check anonymously with the embassy of the country in the USA and this site has information on entry criteria by country:
http://www.hivtravel.org/

You might find that the entry criteria are different for people who are already married for example, so getting married in the USA might make travelling afterwards easier.