Prince Harry’s immigration documents to the United States were partially released on Tuesday, however, they were heavily redacted and have left key questions unanswered.
Last week, Judge Carl Nichols ruled in favour of a Freedom of Information request filed by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank requesting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unseal Prince Harry’s U.S. visa application.
Yet, of the 82 pages released to the public, around half of the contents were redacted and blacked out and the visa application itself was not included to supposedly protect the privacy of the Duke of Sussex, The Times of London reports.
Critically, the released documents did not include the section on Harry’s visa application concerning his past drug use.
The Heritage Foundation had suggested that the prince may have lied on his application after he admitted to taking cocaine, magic mushrooms, and marijuana in his 2023 memoir Spare.
Although past drug use is not necessarily disqualifying in itself, lying on a visa application can result in it being revoked.
The Tuesday release also failed to disclose what type of visa the Duke of Sussex received to relocate to the United States after he controversially abandoned his Royal duties in favour of Hollywood money-making ventures with his wife.
There have been suggestions that the Biden administration may have granted the prince an A-1 visa, which is typically reserved for the heads of state of foreign countries and comes with broad leeway, including exemption from facing criminal trials in America.
Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and the point man for the Heritage Foundation’s efforts to unseal Prince Harry’s documents, Nile Gardiner, said: “This is supposed to be a new era of government accountability, and that’s not reflected in this release at all.”
“This doesn’t change the big picture. There has been no attempt whatsoever to answer the question on whether he lied. The massively redacted documents will only increase public pressure to release the application. It’s farcical, the claim Harry’s privacy needs to be protected.”
While the Heritage Foundation has called upon President Trump to personally intervene in the case, he said last month that he does not plan to step in to deport the prince, saying that “he’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
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