How did Melania Trump, a Slovenian model, score the ‘Einstein visa’?

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Mary Jordan.

The “Einstein visa” is a nickname for the elite EB-1 program, which was designed for renowned academic researchers, multinational business executives or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors, who demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim.”

Melania Trump also has one.

The year she attained it, only five people from Slovenia received green cards under the EB-1 program, according to the State Department.

People who demonstrate “extraordinary ability” are eligible for what is known as the “Einstein” visa. First lady Melania Trump was granted an EB-1 visa in 2001. (Video: Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

In March 2001, as a Slovenian model dating Donald Trump, she was granted a green card from the program, after petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with “extraordinary ability.”

Her credentials:

• Runway shows in Europe

• A Camel cigarette billboard ad in Times Square

• A spot in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, which featured her on the beach in a string bikini, hugging a six-foot inflatable whale

Her visa history

Melania Trump received five H1-B visas between October 1996 and 2001, said Michael Wildes, an attorney for Melania Trump and her family.

But under her husband’s administration, such temporary visas have been harder to get, dropping by more than 50,000 in 2017 compared with the previous year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

What about her parents?

In all, of the more than 1 million green cards issued in 2001, just 3,376 — or a fraction of 1 percent — were issued to immigrants with “extraordinary ability,” according to government statistics.

Melania Trump’s ability to secure her green card not only set her on the path to U.S. citizenship, but put her in the position to sponsor the legal residency of her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the couple are now close to obtaining their own citizenship.

President Trump has railed against "chain migration." His wife is an immigrant and his in-laws are in the U.S., but how did they come in? (Video: Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

President Trump has proposed ending the sponsorship of relatives such as parents, slamming it as “chain migration.” For decades, U.S. citizens have had the ability to assist relatives in obtaining legal residency.

CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come in, and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. NOT ACCEPTABLE! pic.twitter.com/PQGeTTdRtX
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2017

Did she qualify?

Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman and chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the Immigration Act of 1990 defining EB-1, said that Melania Trump’s resume in 2001 seems “inconsistent” with the requirements of the visa.

To obtain an EB-1 under the extraordinary ability category, an immigrant has to provide evidence of a major award or meet at least three out of 10 criteria. Among them: evidence of commercial successes in the performing arts, evidence of work displayed at artistic exhibitions and evidence of original contributions to a field.

The process of deciding who meets the “extraordinary ability” standard is subjective, said Sarah Pierce, an immigration expert at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

But it is generally thought that only the top 2 percent of people in their field would qualify, she said, adding that the “quintessential award you want to put on the application is Nobel Prize.”