USCIS Policy Manual update reflects new HHS rulemaking

On November 2, 2016, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") issued a policy alert on updates the agency is making to its Policy Manual regarding health-related grounds of inadmissibility. These changes are in direct response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") rulemaking. This new guidance is retroactive, effective March 28, 2016, and includes several important updates. Most notably, the definition of a Class A condition now includes the failure to present documentation of having received vaccinations against vaccine preventable diseases, the definition of a Class B condition now reflects "health conditions, diseases, or disability serious in degree or permanent in nature," and updates to the definition of physical and mental disorders associated with harmful behavior and the definition of drug abuse and drug addiction. In addition to these updates, the new policy 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 adjustment of status or an immigrant visa inadmissible on health-related grounds of inadmissibility.