Calls grow for Prince Harry’s US visa application to be made public after drug taking admissions

Calls are growing for the US government to release details of Prince Harry’s visa application after he admitted to drug-taking in his memoir, Spare.

Now, a Washington-based think-tank pursuing the case has accused the Biden administration of “stonewalling” a legal bid to have the document made public.

A request to have the application fast-tracked on the grounds of exceptional public interest has been turned down, The Telegraph UK reports.

The right-wing Heritage Foundation group says that decision is “outrageous” and is asking a judge to overturn that decision by the Department of Homeland Security and two of its agencies, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Customs and Border Protection.

The group argues the records for the Duke of Sussex’s visa should be made public because admissions of drug use are grounds for inadmissibility in visa applications.

Sources close to Prince Harry have always maintained he was truthful about his drug use on his visa application.

But the group argues that simply calls into question whether the royal was given special treatment, with one suggestion being that he was granted a waiver by border officials.

In Spare, Prince Harry admitted to taking drugs including cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms.

A number of British media outlets – including The Telegraph – are demanding answers over Harry’s visa application, under the US government’s Freedom of Information laws.

Applications can be fast-tracked if there is “widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exist possible questions about the government’s integrity which affect public confidence”.

But officials rejected this, claiming such British-based publishers were not sufficiently mainstream in the US to count.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, told the publication: “The Biden administration is clearly stonewalling here and they are trying to avoid releasing any documents”.

The group will now apply for a hearing in front of a judge at the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking for the decision to be overturned.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to the US in mid-2020 after stepping back from their public working royal roles in the UK.

They settled in Montecito after staying in Canada, before moving to Los Angeles.

Prince Harry’s current US visa is expected to expire this year.

Most applicants are granted a three-year visa, meaning Harry will have to renew his soon or apply for a Green Card or citizenship.

This story was originally published on 9Honey and is republished with permission.