Prince Harry Likely Doesn't Hold A Green Card To Be US Citizen, Immigration Expert Says
Prince Harry has updated his residential record, but the worded language used gave a clue about his citizenship status in the United States, an immigration expert said.
Last year, the Duke of Sussex updated his record by making the United States of America his new "Country/State Usually Resident." His previous data showed it was the United Kingdom.
Charlotte Slocombe, a partner at the global immigration law firm Fragomen and a U.S. immigration expert, weighed in on the move. She noticed that the record didn't use "permanent residence," suggesting that Meghan Markle's husband didn't have a green card -- an identity document needed for naturalization and U.S. citizenship.
"From a US immigration perspective, 'residency' covers a gambit of visa categories and essentially means that he is not a tourist," Slocombe told the Mirror.
"It does not provide any indication of what type of visa he holds. The lack of the use 'permanent residence' seems to suggest that he does not, in fact, hold a Green card, which would be the first step to naturalization and becoming a US citizen. Harry can maintain temporary US immigration status by holding an A-1 diplomatic visa, or O-1 Extraordinary Ability or Achievement visa indefinitely, without ever needing to become a permanent resident or US citizen."
Prince Harry's immigration visa has become a subject of discussion ever since he admitted that he used drugs in his 2023 memoir "Spare." It remains unclear if he lied in his immigration papers about his drug use, as the administration kept his immigration application confidential.
"So, of course, an admission in a book isn't sworn evidence, it's not testimony. But it is fairly strong circumstantial evidence that he took drugs," said Michael Cole, former BBC TV journalist and royal correspondent.
"And if it is revealed that he did not tell the truth in his visa form, the Americans vigilate their immigration very seriously, unlike this country, and he could be kicked out of the country, his visa could be annulled, and he could be asked to leave America promptly."
Meanwhile, a royal expert claimed that Prince Harry updated his residential record to troll his father, King Charles after the latter asked him and his wife to vacate Frogmore Cottage, their official residence in London.
"To me, it feels like he's trolling his dad a bit because he could have said that he's been a US resident since 2020 when he quit the UK and moved to the States, but instead, he chose the exact day that his dad kicked him out of Frogmore," said royal commentator Charlotte Griffiths, editor at large at Mail on Sunday.
"Harry was incensed by this move. Nothing is by chance with Harry. He's kind of spiteful, and he can't let go of the past," Griffiths continued. "Why is he so hung up on Frogmore? This is the country he was desperate to get away from. This is a house he didn't particularly want to live in and, in fact, didn't live in."
