HIV, multiple sclerosis or other illness requiring expensive treatment may no longer be a barrier to permanent residence in Canada.

Reviving questions about when and if a would-be immigrant’s health problems should keep him out of Canada, the Federal Court has overturned a government decision to bar a Panamanian man from the country because of the potential financial burden of his HIV infection.

Nestor Ovalle has a job offer from a Toronto accounting firm and qualified for entry under the skilled-worker category. He was denied permanent resident status, however, on the grounds that his need for $18,000 a year in anti-retroviral drugs could unduly strain Canadian health-care resources.

The court quashed that ruling this month and sent the case back for a new hearing, saying the original Immigration Canada officer ignored evidence that a U.S. charity — not Ontario taxpayers — would pay for Mr. Ovalle’s medication. 

Click on link to read full article in the National Post: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/16/canadian-immigration-rules-blur-when-illness-involved/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter