When Does an Immigrant with HIV Represent an Excessive Demand on Canadian Health or Social Services?

The Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of 2001 outlines conditions under which individuals may be granted or denied admission to Canada. The Act stipulates that applications for residence will be rejected if their health is expected to generate excessive demand on Canadian health or social services. The purpose of this paper is to derive a statistical definition of excessive demand and to apply that threshold to persons with HIV who are seeking admission to Canada. The paper demonstrates that the current threshold used by Citizenship and Immigration Canada is much lower than the thresholds that may be derived statistically.