Prince Harry's visa case returns to court for the first time in Trump presidency

A US court on Wednesday heard Prince Harry's visa record case for the first time since Donald Trump returned to the presidency , according to the local media.

Reports said that a judge at US District Court in Washington will determine whether to make the documents public.

The court is to decide whether to vacate a previous ruling that kept the Duke of Sussex's visa application private.

 Judge Carl Nichols ordered lawyers to appear in court at 7pm for a "motion for relief from judgment" hearing, following challenges from The Heritage Foundation.

The Heritage Foundation is challenging Judge Nichols' September ruling, arguing he "relied too much on secret evidence" in keeping the records private.

Last year, Trump said if Prince Harry lied on his visa application about drug-taking he would seek to take "appropriate action" if he won November's presidential election, declining to rule out Harry leaving the United States.

Trump's comments to British right-leaning media outlet GB News came in an interview with presenter and frequent Harry critic Nigel Farage.

US visa applicants are required to make a disclosure about any history of drug use, which can impact their application. Lying on an application can result in penalties including deportation.

Harry, who has lived in California since 2020, admitted to past illegal drug use in his memoir "Spare," after which conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation sued the U.S. 

Homeland Security Department to access his immigration records. A judge ruled in that case that the details pertaining to Harry's visa application should be handed over to court.

Farage, a long-time Trump ally, asked the Republican presidential candidate if Prince Harry should receive any "special privileges" if he lied in his application.

"No. We'll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they'll have to take appropriate action," Trump replied.

When asked if that might mean Harry "not staying in America," the former president replied: "Oh I don't know. You'll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago."

Since Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle left royal duties and moved to California, they have often railed at their treatment by Britain's royal family.

From an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 to a Netflix documentary series and Harry's book, the couple have asserted that the royals and their aides failed to protect them from a hostile press and leaked negative stories about them.

The couple, who married in 2018, have rarely returned to Britain since their departure for the United States.