Melania Trump, a special visa for "geniuses" and a controversial procedure
When she was a model, Trump's wife obtained a residence permit known as an Einstein visa. The entire file raised doubts.
It is known as an "Einstein visa." It is obtained by nuclear scientists and Nobel Prize winners. But also acrobats, movie extras, event organizers ... and a large number of models. Year after year, thousands of foreigners try to convince US officials that they are among the best at their business. If they get it, the prize is a green card or residence card and together with it the right to live permanently and work in the country.
Information that the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, obtained an immigrant visa reserved for "individuals of extraordinary ability" in 2001, when she was a model, has put the EB-1 visa program on the limelight, employment-based. The news, initially published by The Washington Post, raised questions about whether Mrs. Trump had actually met the visa requirements. But various immigration attorneys dismissed those doubts, arguing that the EB-1 immigration visa requirements give rise to far more interpretations than her nickname and her reputation for being the brightest suggest.
While the program may represent the high point of the merit-based immigration regime supported by opponents of visa lottery and tie-based migration - in fact, supported by President Trump himself - the decision of what constitutes a Merit, even when based on certain criteria, is ultimately subjective and often surprising.
Out of nearly a million visas granted in total, only 5,530 obtained their green card through this program in 2016, the most recent period for which such data is available. In 2001, when Mrs. Trump got hers, even fewer were delivered.
Marshall Cohen, an Atlanta attorney specializing in EB-1 visas, said he would not have hesitated to represent Mrs. Trump. "I guess she made a lot of money, she got a lot of press and was on magazine covers," he said. "It was probably a very easy case." Melania, then Melania Knauss from Slovenia, was featured on the cover of the English edition of GQ magazine in 2000, the year she applied for the EB-1 visa, and later that year she was featured in Sports Illustrated and elsewhere. journals.
"Do we need more foreign models in the US? Some may say no, ”Cohen said. “We may need more chemical engineers. But if there is a model at the top of her profession, she could give the profile, "he added.
Applicants for EB-1, which was created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, face a two-part assessment. First, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S.C.I.S.) must determine whether a candidate has shown evidence of meeting three out of ten criteria, such as having published material in professional editions or other major media. Once that is met, the decision goes into a vague and indefinite “final determination of merits”, run by the immigration agency. “There is the mystery; no one knows what it is, ”said Sostrin, a Los Angeles-based attorney. What is clear is that it does not take extraordinary intelligence - and it is not enough on its own - to obtain an EB-1. Furthermore, even Albert Einstein might not have qualified before winning the Nobel.
A few years ago, Sostrin distributed a curriculum vitae to immigration lawyers who attended a congress, without saying that it was Einstein's, nor that it was made from the achievements of the great German scientist in his professional career. Sostrin asked all of her colleagues to evaluate the likelihood that the holder of the resume would be approved based on an extraordinary capacity visa.
The general opinion was that it would be something very difficult: the curriculum, for a private teacher and patent examiner turned professor, only mentioned a handful of the important scientific works that Einstein had published around 1920, more than a decade after beginning his career academic. "The concept that you kind of have to be a genius or Einstein is pure fiction," said Chris Wright, a Los Angeles attorney. "We have had success with models no more gifted than Melania Trump." Donald Trump has advocated for immigration reform that would replace the current system based on family ties - which Trump mocks as "chain migration" - through a merit-based approach, emphasizing aptitude and educational attainment. Her proposal would have made it impossible for the first lady to endorse her parents to get her green cards, which Melania did after obtaining permanent legal residence and becoming a citizen. Meanwhile, highly trained people, whether scientists or entrepreneurs, are frequently turned away when they apply to work and live in the country.
According to various immigration attorneys, especially during the Trump administration, UCSIS has made a habit of requesting additional evidence before deciding the fate of an applicant. They also said that in seeking approval, scholars and scientists face greater difficulties than models, actors and athletes.
Elissa Taub, a Memphis city attorney who got an EB-1 visa for a German gymnast, said that some of the refusals she has received "hurt me to this day," such as a nuclear astrophysicist who had produced a innovative work in a national laboratory. Immigration officials said her job title did not rank high enough to merit EB-1. "We lost a great scientific brain because of that crazy decision," she said of the scholar, who returned to India.
Otherwise, the U.S.C.I.S. admitted that a Chinese researcher had met three of the enabling parameters, but that "scientists who have reached the top in their field of action are the cause of thousands of mentions", not hundreds, like those that this one had exhibited. It was rejected.
Despite the vast documentation and painstaking letters from world-renowned experts who supported the request of a molecular oncologist studying drug-resistant cancer, the U.S.C.I.S. he questioned whether her scholarship was significant. After her attorney provided new testimony, the scientist was accepted. "These are people we should be rolling the red carpet for," said David Soloway, the attorney who handled the case.
"Most people would gladly say that it makes sense to admit someone who is extraordinarily skilled as a scientist into the country," Soloway added. But as a model? Really?".
