US government will appear in court over Prince Harry’s visa application

By William On May 31, 2023

The US government will appear in a federal court on Tuesday to answer questions about Prince Harry’s visa application after he admitted using illegal drugs.

The Heritage Foundation, a Washington DC-based conservative think tank, is suing the Joe Biden administration to force officials to release the Duke of Sussex’s immigration files.

The organization wants to know how the prince managed to enter the US, as he subsequently confessed to using cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms in his bombshell memoir Spare.

The Heritage Foundation has announced that its case will be heard before a federal judge on June 6 at 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom 17 of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The US government will also be represented.

The news was revealed by Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, who also said it would be open to the press.

A decision to open immigration records could affect Harry’s status in the US, as an admission of drug use could result in a visa rejection.

Harry and Meghan at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York on May 16

The Heritage Foundation has said the case will be heard in a US federal judge on June 6

The Heritage Foundation is trying to determine whether the Duke’s drug revelations in Spare were also mentioned in his visa application.

Can drug users be banned from visiting the United States?

US officials can prevent foreigners who have committed drug offenses from entering the country, even if they have never been arrested and charged.

Under US rules, suspected drug users applying for a visa may be required to answer additional questions about their medical history and also take a medical exam to prove they are not still a drug user before they are allowed to enter the country.

In high-profile cases where celebrities known to have used drugs want to come to America, they have been invited to the US Embassy in London to take a drug test.

Musician Pete Doherty was famously banned from the US for drug-related arrests. In 2014, TV chef Nigella Lawson was banned from flying to the US after she confessed to using drugs.

The court appeal comes after the group failed to make the application public in March using freedom of information laws.

In Spare, Harry revealed that he first used cocaine on a shooting weekend at the age of 17. On other occasions, he did “a few more lines.”

He also admitted to hallucinating at a celebrity-filled event in California and smoking cannabis after his first date with Meghan.

And the Duke spoke of his “positive” experience with the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, saying it “gave me a sense of relaxation, liberation, comfort, a lightness that I could hold on to for a while.”

Harry made the comments in an interview with therapist Dr Gabor Maté, an outspoken proponent of drug decriminalization who has reportedly used Amazonian ayahuasca to treat patients with mental illness.

Harry told him, “(Cocaine) didn’t do anything for me, it was more of a social thing and definitely made me feel like I belonged, I think it probably also made me feel different than I felt, which was kind of the point.

“Marijuana is different, that really helped me.”

Under US law, anyone who admits to a history of illegal narcotics abuse is generally barred from entering the country.

Applicants for a visa to live and work in the United States must tick a box to answer “yes” or “no” to a question about past drug use. It says, “Are you or have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?”

Prince Harry at New York’s Ziegfeld Theater on May 16 for the Ms Foundation event

This is the part of the visa application that Prince Harry would need to complete in order to enter the United States

Answering yes can result in a US visa being denied, as happened in the case of Amy Winehouse in 2008, which caused her to cancel plans to attend the Grammy Awards.

In ‘Spare’ and the TV interviews that followed, Prince Harry admitted to using illegal drugs

But a confession to drug use does not automatically mean you will be banned from the US for life. Any denial of entry can be reversed after a personal interview at a US consulate or official immigration office, where a waiver can be issued.

The Heritage Foundation has argued that there is ‘immense public interest’ in learning how Harry answered the question about drugs in his application.

And they can be sure of succeeding in unsealing the documents, given the history of authorities releasing immigration documents on public figures.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services website has an electronic reading room that contains the files of some celebrities, such as the late musicians George Michael and John Lennon.

The Heritage Foundation published the legal complaint in the US earlier this month

Prince Harry is photographed after a night out at London’s Cuckoo Club in August 2006

Earlier this month, Mr. Gardiner – a former senior aide to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 2000 to 2002, who advised her on international policy issues – said the lawsuit focused on “transparency and accountability.”

“It is a clear public interest in the US to ensure that Harry does not receive favorable or preferential treatment from the immigration authorities,” he added.

“Any discrepancy between the details in his immigration application and the revelations about drug use in Spare would have serious consequences for his legal status in the United States.

“Harry should welcome the release of his immigration application so that the public can see what has been put in the application.”

MailOnline has reached out to representatives for Harry today for comment.