There had been calls to have Prince Harry’s US visa application made public following his admission of previous drug use

Prince Harry’s secret visa documents have finally been released to the public – but large sections are redacted.

The US government had until Tuesday, March 18, to publish the previously unseen papers relating to the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status.

US think tank the Heritage Foundation launched a legal case to have the application made public.

It came after questions were raised over why Prince Harry was granted a US visa after he admitted in his memoir Spare to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

It was suggested that Harry had received special treatment from the previous Biden administration or he had made omissions on immigration forms.

The heavily redacted court documents read: “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.

READ MORE: Meghan Markle ‘sends very telling message’ as Netflix show branded ‘bitter pill to swallow’

Don’t miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the BirminghamLive newsletter here.

“This speculation by Plaintiffs does not point to any evidence of government misconduct.

“The records, as explained above, do not support such an allegation but show the regulatory process involved in reviewing and granting immigration benefits which was done in compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1103 and applicable rules and regulation.”

Pages and pages of the highly anticipated files have been redacted, The Sun reports.

It seems that the key question regarding whether or not Harry did tick the ‘no’ box about drug use has not been answered.

President Donald Trump last month ruled out seeking to deport Harry while taking a swipe at his wife Meghan Markle, who he described as ‘terrible’.

On Saturday, court papers filed showed Judge Nichols made a ruling that Harry’s redacted documents would have to be made public.

The legal battle began after groups believed Harry should not have been allowed into the US after revealing drugs he had previously taken.

In Spare, Harry wrote that cocaine ‘didn’t do anything for me’ but ‘Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me’.

It triggered an investigation into how he was allowed to enter the US in 2020, when he stepped down as a working royal and moved to America with Meghan.

Heritage’s Nile Gardiner previously told The Telegraph : “Anyone who applies to the United States has to be truthful on their application, and it is not clear that is the case with Prince Harry.”

Judge Nichols previously ruled last September that the files would remain private, stating that there was not a strong enough public interest to see the documents released.

But the latest development was pushed by lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security in February.

They argued ‘iron-glad guardrails’ were broken and certain evidence should have been reviewed in court, which was not and meant their ability to build a case against Harry’s appeal were ‘severely compromised’.

Lawyer John Bardo wrote in court papers: “Specifically, Defendant would propose redacting all information in these items that would reveal information that the Court has determined Defendant can withhold.”

After President Trump came into power, he announced Harry would not be deported.

He made a dig towards Meghan and told The New York Post: “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”