Prince Harry’s US visa row has been put back under the spotlight this week after some of his documents were released. The Duke of Sussex’s visa became a cause of debate after the prince revealed in his 2023 memoir Spare that he used to take drugs when he was younger. This led to the think tank group The Heritage Foundation questioning how Harry, 40, was able to get a US visa to live in the country in 2020 with this drug-taking past.
The group campaigned for his visa documents to be released to show whether he lied about his previous drug-taking or was given preferential treatment by the Joe Biden administration. The heavily redacted court documents released this week, as ordered by a court judge, showed that there is no evidence of government misconduct. However, the documents did not show whether Harry ticked the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ box when it came to questions about history of drug use.
While this remains unanswered, one expert believes that either way, US President Donald Trump would not deport the dad-of-two, who quit royal duty five years ago, as he has more pressing issues to deal with.
This is despite the fact Trump is not a fan of Harry or his wife Meghan Markle, 43, and has previously said he would not “protect” the duke if he did lie on his visa documents – which has not been proven.
As reported by The Mirror, California family attorney Alphonse Provinziano believes that Trump is “unlikely” to carry out his threat to deport Harry as the process is long and he has bigger issues at hand.
Alphonse, who spoke to The Express US, said: “First, the process itself must be initiated, and there would likely be little reason to expedite Prince Harry’s removal.”
He continued: “He is a contributing member of society, a war veteran, and actively involved in philanthropic work. Furthermore, his personal story is inspiring, and US public sentiment generally favors him.
“It seems unlikely that President-elect Trump would prioritise his removal for political reasons, even if questions about Harry’s immigration status arise.
“President-elect Trump has made clear that his priority is removing the approximately 3,000 alleged criminal illegal aliens in the US, a process which may consume almost four years.”
Despite facing questions about his visa since 2023, Harry has continued to speak favourably about life in the US. In December, Harry said he was “grateful” to be bringing up his children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, in America, where the family live on a sprawling estate in Montecito, California.