Washington ( CNN ) -- Foreign nationals who are HIV-positive will find it easier starting Monday to visit the United States . The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed HIV infection from the list of diseases that prevent non-U.S. citizens from entering the country . HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus -- the virus that causes AIDS . Advocates for HIV-positive people said the new policy was long overdue , calling it `` a significant step forward for the United States . '' `` The end of the HIV travel and immigration ban is the beginning of a new life for countless families and thousands who had been separated because of this policy , '' said Steve Ralls , spokesman for Immigration Equality , a national rights organization for lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender and HIV-positive individuals . `` This is a new beginning for them . '' The final rule was approved in November and went into effect Monday . The new regulation takes HIV infection out of the category of `` communicable diseases of public health significance , '' the CDC said . It also removes required testing for HIV infection from the U.S. immigration medical screening process and eliminates the need for a waiver for entry into the United States . U.S. laws and regulations enacted since 1952 have made persons `` who were afflicted with any dangerous contagious disease '' ineligible to receive a visa to enter the country . People infected with HIV have been restricted since 1987 , when Congress directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add HIV to its list of diseases of public health significance . The United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS , Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 , which President Bush signed on July 30 , 2008 , removed the statutory requirement that mandated the inclusion of HIV on the list of diseases of public health significance that barred entry in the United States . The legislation did not , however , automatically change the existing regulations , administered by HHS , that continued to list HIV as a `` communicable disease of public-health significance '' and required the more cumbersome visa process . The United States was one of 13 countries that restricted entry of HIV-positive visitors , according to amfAR , an AIDS research foundation .
Travel and immigration ban on HIV-positive travelers lifted . The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case this week. HIV-infected visitors previously had to get a special waiver to obtain a visa .