Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the United States in 2020 after stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family.
The US State Department has withheld 18 documents connected to Prince Harry’s visa records, according to a report citing court filings in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case.
The legal challenge was brought by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank seeking information about the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status and whether he disclosed his past drug use when applying to enter the country.
Harry wrote about using cocaine and marijuana in his 2023 memoir, Spare. The Heritage Foundation argues that his admissions raise questions about how his visa application was handled and whether he received any special consideration.
According to Newsweek, the State Department identified 18 documents in its first interim review but withheld all of them. Officials are reportedly examining another 289 documents that could be relevant to the case.
The next joint status report is due on October 13.
The Heritage Foundation maintains that Harry would have been asked about previous drug use on his immigration forms. It argues that such a history could have affected his eligibility to enter the United States unless he received a waiver or other special dispensation.
Documents released last year in a separate legal battle over Harry’s immigration records were heavily redacted. The US government said it was required to protect his privacy and maintained that there was no evidence he had been given preferential treatment.
More than 80 pages of court filings and transcripts were made public, although substantial portions were blacked out.
Immigration officials argued that the Heritage Foundation had failed to show that the public interest in releasing the records outweighed Harry’s right to privacy.
“Plaintiffs allege that the records should be disclosed as public confidence in the government would suffer or to establish whether the Duke was granted preferential treatment,” wrote Jarrod Panter, an official with US Citizenship and Immigration Services. “This speculation by Plaintiffs does not point to any evidence of government misconduct.”
Harry and Meghan relocated to the United States after stepping away from royal duties in Britain in 2020.
