Advertisement

Prince Harry may have to update US officials on drug use to keep visa

Prince Harry, pictured last month outside the High Court for his privacy case against the owner of the Daily Mail, has come under scrutiny after admitting taking drugs - Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph
Prince Harry, pictured last month outside the High Court for his privacy case against the owner of the Daily Mail, has come under scrutiny after admitting taking drugs - Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph

The Duke of Sussex may have to keep US authorities updated on his drug use if he is to retain visa rights to live in California, it has emerged.

The Duke's immigration status has come under intense scrutiny after a Washington-based think tank requested the publication of his visa application in the light of his admissions of drug-taking.

US immigration laws state that any foreigner “determined to be a drug abuser” is classed as “inadmissible” - though immigration officials can use their discretion to waive the rule.

Sources close to The Duke of Sussex have indicated that he was truthful on his visa application, suggesting that he disclosed his drug use, which has continued since he moved to the US in 2020.

The Heritage Foundation, the biggest conservative think tank in the US, has now used freedom of information laws to demand the release of his visa application, saying it is in the public interest for the authorities to divulge what the Duke said about his drug use, and the details of any waiver he was granted, including the identity of the person making the decision.

People who emigrate to the US are typically given a three-year visa, meaning Prince Harry will need to apply for a new visa, or a Green Card, or citizenship, this year, which could be a problem in light of his recent admissions.

In his autobiography, Spare, and in television interviews, The Duke of Sussex has admitted taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms. He owned up to taking magic mushroom chocolates - which are illegal in the US - during a party at the Friends star Courtney Cox’s home in Los Angeles.

He also spoke about his “positive” experience of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca, which is also illegal in the US, though he did not specify where he took it.

One possibility open to immigration officials in cases where people have admitted to drug use is to require them to update medical examiners on their drug intake over a matter of months.

Drug issue ‘a huge question’

Samuel Dewey, a lawyer who is acting on behalf of the Heritage Foundation in its freedom of information case, said: “When there is an adjustment of status - such as an application for a Green Card - there is a requirement for a full medical examination.

“One condition of a waiver in the case of someone who has admitted drug use could be that the person has to check back with the medical examiner, so that there is some sort of follow-up.

“But we just don’t know how Prince Harry has been treated and that is why we are asking these questions.”

Famous names including the cookery writer Nigella Lawson and the late singer Amy Winehouse have been denied entry to the US in the past because of admissions of drug taking, while the tennis player Novak Djokovic has been denied entry because he refuses to be vaccinated against Covid.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, said: “The drug issue is a huge question. Applicants to the US have to say if they have used drugs. If they say yes they have to fill out a much more detailed form. Sometimes they will be denied entry.

“For him to have got in may have required some kind of high level intervention and we don’t know where that came from.

“What we are asking is whether he was open and transparent with the application, whether there were any particular favours given, was he treated differently to everybody else. We believe in the rule of law.”

'This is going to build and build'

Freedom of information requests have been submitted to the Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. They must respond by a deadline of April 12, though Mr Dewey said that if the requests for information are turned down the Foundation, which has 500,000 members, will take the matter to court.

Mr Gardiner added: “This could potentially build into an issue of congressional interest. Immigration law is a big issue in the coming US presidential election and Prince Harry is increasingly seen as a political activist, so I think this is going to build and build as an issue.”

A source close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said that Prince Harry had been truthful on his visa application, but would not be drawn on the extent to which he detailed his drug-taking.