Dep’t of State Updates Guidance on Medical Grounds of Inadmissibility

Following an update by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to its technical instructions, the Department of State (DOS) has updated guidance in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) with respect to medical grounds of inadmissibility and issued a corresponding cable to the field.

The cable notes that the CDC updated the Technical Instructions for Physical or Mental Disorders with Associated Harmful Behavior and Substance Related Disorders (2010 MH TIs) effective June 1, 2010. Those instructions supersede all previous guidance on physical or mental disorders and substance related disorders. The major revisions in the 2010 MH TIs include changes to the methods of diagnosis of mental disorders and substance?related disorders, the definition and determination of remission, and the alcohol abuse evaluation. The DOS cable includes updates to 9 FAM resulting from this change to the technical instructions.

• The CDC’s updated technical instructions for panel physicians are available online.
• The updated portion of the FAM is available as PDF.