Prince Harry’s visa documents have been submitted to a judge who will decide whether they will be made public.
It’ll be a nerve-wracking time for the royal, as his status in the US has been under scrutiny for several months following the release of his memoir Spare. Prince Harry moved to the States with his wife and son back in 2020. Meghan Markle and the 39-year-old welcomed their daughter Lilibet while they reside in a Montecito mansion in California. However, the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status has made headlines recently following a lawsuit brought on by The Heritage Foundation.
Prince Harry’s visa documents handed over
The conservative think tank wanted Prince Harry’s visa documents to be made public, to see if the dad-of-two lied about his drug use when applying to be in the States.
In the royal’s memoir he spoke of using substances, including cannabis, cocaine, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca.
The think tank filed a Freedom of Information request last year to see what Prince Harry said in his visa application.
But The Department of Homeland Security initially denied making it public, saying it would be an invasion of privacy.
A court filing has confirmed the Department has handed over his application to the judge overseeing the case, via an encrypted link.
It said in a past filing: “Courts consistently hold that a person’s visa or immigration status is private, personal information exempt from disclosure.
“Specifically, the records would reveal the types of documents that Prince Harry used to travel to the United States, his admission status, and any immigration, or non-immigration, benefits that he may have sought.”
Harry ‘had special treatment’
The think tank argued they have a right to know if Prince Harry’s visa was accepted with the drug use information, alleging if so, he received special treatment because he’s the son of King Charles.
It’s not clear why they are interested in Harry, who is brother to Prince William.
Nile Gardiner, the director of The Heritage Foundation, said previously: “Again, Harry has publicly admitted to extensive illegal drug use.
“What do we submit this means? That Harry seems to have received special treatment: the DHS looked the other way if the prince answered truthfully, or it looked the other way if the prince lied on his visa application. Either action would be wrong.”
US immigration ask residents about drug use on visa applications, and as he mentioned his link to substances through his memoir, the think tank want Prince Harry’s documents public to see if he did receive special treatment.
Harry and Meghan first moved to Canada for a spell with their son Archie in January 2020. A few months later, they ventured to California, where Meghan would feel right at home from her days in Hollywood.
Prince will be ‘feeling anxious’
Mail on Sunday editor Charlotte Griffiths say the duke will be ‘anxious’ over the result.
“The most likely thing that will happen is Harry’s going to be feeling very anxious somewhere in Montecito right now, and for the next few days,” she told GB News.
“It’s going to be really embarrassing because they’ve already hinted that his defence might be that he lied about drug use in Spare. We all know that he was trying to sell copies of his book, so I imagine that before deportation, there might be some sort of embarrassing climbdown.”
She added: “I’m actually amazed we’ve got here, because this feels like it’s been rumbling on for months and months. At first, it felt like a bit of a stunt from the Heritage Foundation.
“They did the Freedom of Information request, and we wondered if it would really lead to anything. But this moment is really big because it’s actually led to something. This is really happening now.”
Now it’s up to Judge Carl Nichols to certify whether Prince Harry’s visa documents will be available for all to read.
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