President Donald Trump announced on August 9, 2016 at a campaign rally in North Carolina that a press conference would be held in the coming weekend to discuss how his third wife Melania Knaus became an American citizen.
That press conference has yet to happen.
But a little over a month later, Melania posted a letter from one of her husband’s lawyers stating that she had obtained an EB-1 Visa in 2001 and through that was granted citizenship five years later, all on her own accord.
This claim has left many puzzled over how Melania would qualify for what has become known as the ‘Einstein Visa,’ which is reserved for ‘persons with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.’
Mayne Einstein: Melania Trump was granted at EB-1 Visa in 2001 which gave her a path to citizenship. She is pictured on Tuesday at the White House speaking during an Opioid Summit
Melania opted for a tweet rather than a press conference in September 2016, taking to Twitter and declaring: ‘I am pleased to include a letter from my immigration attorney which states that with 100% certainty I correctly went through the legal process when arriving in the USA.’
The letter, from Michael Wildes, stated that Melania first entered the United States on August 27, 1996 with a visitor visa before being granted an H-1B visa that October which allowed her to do modelling work.
Wildes stated that she obtained five of those visas until in March 2001 she successfully applied for and was granted her EB-1 visa.
Melania is pictured with husband, President Donald Trump, at a red carpet event in 2001, the same year she got her visa
At that time, residents of Slovenia were forced to reapply for the H-1B annually, making the EB-1 a far more convenient option for any ‘extraordinary’ Slovenians.
Melania was just one of six people from her country who was able to obtain an EB-1 back in 2001, making her feat all the more impressive.
In order to apply for the EB-1, a foreign-born citizen must ‘demonstrate extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics through sustained national or international acclaim.’
Applicants must submit evidence to back their claim of ‘extraordinary ability’ in at least three out of ten criteria, which were outlined in the Immigration Act of 1990.
These include receiving nationally or internationally recognized prizes, membership in outstanding achievement organizations, authorship of scholarly articles, commercial success and holding a critical role in distinguished organizations.
It is not clear what Melania cited as evidence in her application as she has never spoken about her path to citizenship beyond posting Wildes’ letter.
Even if that evidence is deemed acceptable, the applicant must then prove they are ‘one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor’ and show sustained acclaim in their field from peers.
Melania was just one of six people from her country who was able to obtain an EB-1 back in 2001 (pictured above), making her feat all the more impressive
Two months after the release of the letter it also emerged that Melania was working in the country prior to receiving her H-1B visa, with records showing she took at least 10 jobs between August and October of 1996 while still on a visitor visa.
‘I came here for my career, and I did so well, I moved here. It never crossed my mind to stay here without papers,’ Melania said in the February 2016 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
‘That is just the person you are. You follow the rules. You follow the law. Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa. After a few visas, I applied for a green card and got it in 2001. After the green card, I applied for citizenship. And it was a long process.’
That interview prompted Wildes to initially claim that Melania had achieved that 2001 visa through marriage, despite the fact that she and Donald did not marry until 2005 in Mar-a-Lago.
Wildes then changed his tune a few months later, stating in was an EB-1 Visa that Melania got to stay in the country, which then allowed her to secure citizenship on her own.
Musicians John Lennon and Yoko Ono and atletes Dirk Nowitzki and Monica Seles are a few of the famous names who have been granted EB-1 Visas