Prince Harry will see thousands of pages from the first tranche of documents released regarding a lawsuit over his visa records, according to reports. The Duke of Sussex has been embroiled in a so-called “visa row” after a conservative Washington DC think tank, the Heritage Foundation, requested his visa documents be made public following his claims about past drug use in his memoir, Spare, which was released in 2023.
Harry’s reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms prompted the organisation to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security, questioning whether the Duke received preferential treatment or whether protocols were followed when he entered the country in 2020. In March 2025, the court released heavily redacted filings that shed no new light on the circumstances under which the duke entered the US. The think tank then filed a new case against the US DHS, requesting the release of additional documents relating to Prince Harry.
Prince Harry is embroiled in a visa row (Image: Getty)
According to Newsweek, it led to a review of 307 documents totalling 2,487 pages, which officials have spent months processing and are set to begin releasing near the end of July.
This new update could offer a new glimpse into how Harry is “discussed within the US government”.
Last year, US Department of Homeland Security officials responded to a request from US District Judge Carl Nichols, stating that the records were being “withheld in full” and that all records are deemed “categorically exempt from disclosure.”
It comes after a September 2024 ruling by Carl Nichols that the public did not have a strong interest in disclosing Harry’s immigration records, but the Heritage Foundation sought to overturn the judgment.
The organisation’s legal team stated then: “The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to protect Prince Harry, and in doing so, has undermined the public’s trust in the fair enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.”
Despite previously refusing the FOI request, in February 2025, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security agreed to release redacted versions of the forms.
John Bardo, a lawyer representing the DHS under the Joe Biden administration, said in 2024 about Harry’s claims in Spare: “The book isn’t sworn testimony or proof. Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true. The mere acknowledgement of these records would constitute an unwarranted invasion of Prince Harry’s privacy.”
In his controversial memoir, Harry said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”
Mr Trump said in a GB News interview with Nigel Farage in March 2024 last year that Harry should not receive preferential treatment.
Asked if the Duke should have “special privileges” if he was found to have lied on his application, Mr Trump had said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
