5th Feb - court date for Prince Harry visa case

[veraswaistcoat]

I believe this is the first time under Trump's Presidency that Prince Harry's visa records case is due. Lawyers representing the Heritage Foundation and Harry are to meet in Washington DC. Is Harry not sick of court?

I don't think Harry has any role in this other than as an onlooker? Does he have any kind of opportunity to make an intervention? I don't think Melania Trump did re her parents and what she felt was personal family information that was reportedly handed over.

The ICE raids started this week in the US. I've been reviewing a multipage document about how to handle them if we are raided at work for the last week. I've no sympathy for Harry. He can afford private lawyers and will be provided with housing and income if sent back to the UK.

Unsurprising that the Heritage Foundation are pursuing this, given their closeness to Trump. Just to clarify, though, Harry and his lawyers are not a party to the case. The parties are Heritage and The Department For Homeland Security, in a Freedom Of Information Act case brought by the former against the latter. Harry is their test subject in a wider campaign against DHS and the application (or rather, non application) of their rules when granting visas.

Harry has nothing else to fill his days, and a huge vendetta against nearly everyone and everything.

Yes, that's what I thought, @PigeonDress - that Harry isn't personally involved in this case as either claimant or respondent, although it is about him and his records. He's just a onlooker.

@TheCrowPeople , yes, he's a somewhat helpless onlooker who has been hoist by his own petard. Writing about his drug peccadillos in Spare has handed the Heritage Fund a high profile test case to look at the entire visa granting practices of DHS. I don't doubt there have been some attempts on Harrys part to shut it down behind the scenes, given his connections to the previous government. So far, his visa information - specifically whether he admitted to his past drug use -has been kept out of public hands, and his actual visa type remains secret. I'll be surprised if he isn't on a head of state/A1 visa. He'll qualify for this merely by being a member of the royal family, and he doesn't need to be working on behalf of the British government to have one. These visas have a lower threshold of vetting, he's unlikely to have been vetted/rejected on drug use mentioned in his book. Still, it's not a great look for him, it's one more way he has used his RF connections to his advantage whilst hypocritically attacking the institution.

The FOI application was closed in September, with no information handed to Heritage, Harry's visa status still being undisclosed, and the judge's ruling being heavily redacted. It appears there may have been correspondence between the judge and DHS to which Heritage were not a party. Heritage have therefore asked the court to vacate their previous order and release that correspondence. The judge has ordered that the parties meet on 5th Feb to hear the vacation application.

Hope this works https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.254744/gov.uscourts.dcd.254744.1.0_2.pdf

The US has the Heritage Foundation to thank for Project 25 also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. Trump and Vance are inextricably linked to Project 25 (despite Trumps pre election statement that he was not allied with project 25 - as it turned out just another lie) and quite a few of Trumps ‘picks’ for his administration have been drawn from the Project 25 roll call.

I think Harry’s visa is the least of the current mess in the US.

I hope they don't send him back here.

This might be interesting - a distraction, whilst Rome burns and all that.

Thanks, @PigeonDress. If he's on a HoS/A1 visa, won't it be up for renewal this year? I understand they last for 5 years, then need to be renewed. I'm not sure what grounds he would give to be able to renew his Hos/A1, given his obvious and self-inflicted non-relationship with the monarchy and indeed the UK.

That doesn't really help Harry though.

All very interesting !

Doubt he would come without security.

Did they buy somewhere in Portugal? But would he only get 180 days there?

Or maybe he could shack up with Thomas as he's only a couple of hundred miles drive away over the border.

I think so, yes. I think (going off what I have read) that just being part of the RF qualifies him, he doesn't need to be an active member.

Apparently the Portuguese ' house' is a plot of land and not built on yet , so no use at the present.

If nothing else surely he could apply for a spousal visa.

Well that would mean actual work and thought , so I'm not holding my breath @Ellmau !

I didn't read it like that when I last looked, out of curiosity - I was under the impression the holder has to be in the US on official duties, or an immediate family member of someone on official duties.

But no matter - it'll all come out into the public domain one way or another. The US seems much more open on Freedom of Information than the UK. I imagine a lot of people in the US already know Harry's visa status and might gossip anyway, as is the age-old human habit.

I just can't see this being kept under wraps for ever.

i imagine he is on either an investment visa (investment of around 1million needed, Arcehewell ?) or a diplomatic visa. I would be surprised if he did not disclose his drug use, it was all over the media when he was a teenager. He received his visa during the first Trump administration.

Is the head of Homeland Security one of the people Trump has fired and replaced with his own choice?

While you might be right about this generally he's actually not a party to this case at all and I don't think even entitled to attend?

Yes - in this respect, why would he be any different from any other UK citizen married to an American? The Sussexes must meet whatever financial criteria is required to 'sponsor' a spouse and, despite the welter of disparaging commentary hurled in their direction, I don't think it has ever been suggested Harry married Meghan purely to get a Visa!

I think what type of visa he has is irrelevant, the point is, did he disclose his drug use on his application or did he lie about it.

If anyone remembers the husband of Kelly Rutherford getting deported because of irregularities in his Visa (her lawyer disclosed it to homeland security, as they were divorcing, expecting she would get full custody of the kids), he was deported and their kids were sent to live with him as he was barred from entering the US but she was able to travel to Europe to see the kids. She eventually went bankrupt trying to fight the custody arrangement.

So it's not what type of Visa, spousal, investment, employment etc, it is what is said on the visa application or if the visa conditions are not adhered to.

I think there are still some some questions unanswered about Melania Trumps route to the US and how she got a visa? so maybe the Trump administration won't want to open that can of worms for other famous people.

I don't think this is a good thing and I suspect that Trump is using this as a dead cat on the table to distract from other things. I thought Trump was more pro UK than Biden. He seemed to be a bit fan of QEII.

This feels like an unnecessary attempt to breach Harry's privacy.

@JADS Harry breached his own privacy when he wrote all about his drug use in a book he made multi millions from 🤷‍♀️

If he lied on his visa about it, then he deserves to face consequences in my opinion - why should he be treated differently to a normal citizen in that respect?

That said, I think everyone knows that rules are there to be broken by the rich and famous, so undoubtedly he'll get away without any serious impact, barring possibly some embarrassment, which I think is the least he deserves if it comes out that he either lied, or was granted special treatment because of who his father is.