Why did Melania Trump receive a visa for persons of "extraordinary ability"?
An article in "The Washington Post" sparked controversy by casting doubts on the reasons why the former model was granted a special visa after meeting Donald Trump. That status is usually only held by Olympians.
How are Melania Trump, the winner of a Nobel Prize and an Olympic medalist? In which all three can receive the Einstein visa, reserved for people with "extraordinary abilities."
Or at least that is what the lawyer for the first lady, Michael Wildes, told ‘The Washington Post’, for whom the Slovenian model “was more than widely qualified and solidly eligible”.
However, Wildes declined to reveal the reasons why such an honor was bestowed in 2000 on a model who, until then, had only been noted for appearing on a Camel cigarette billboard in Times Square and in an issue of Sports Illustrated.
And that has raised suspicions.
The Einstein visa is known as the elite EB-1 program, which awards green cards to immigrants who have received world-class awards (such as a Nobel or a Pulitzer) or who meet three out of ten criteria. Among them, commercial success in the performing arts, a work presented in an art exhibition, or an original contribution to a field of knowledge.
It is therefore a program that is particularly difficult to access. Of the 1 million green cards issued in 2001, just over 3,000 were of this type. That is, less than 0.3 percent.
How did she do it?
Melania Knauss (now Trump) arrived in the United States in October 1996 on a visitor visa. From then until 2001, she chained five work (known as H1-B).
During that period she also began dating Donald Trump, whom she met at a party in 1996. From that meeting, she began to appear alongside her on the social pages of the New York Post and other dedicated publications. to the show business.
In January 2000, she made the best known of her photo shoots by being portrayed naked on the cover of the British version of GQ magazine. In that issue, titled "sex at 30,000 feet," it was speculated that her husband might somehow make it to the White House.
"I will do everything possible to make that happen and I will support my man," she said in the interview that she accompanied the photos of her. A few months later, she got the precious Einstein visa.
According to Wilders, in that year Trump sponsored her application based on her "extraordinary abilities" as a model. However, she never stood out in the competitive world of fashion and never reached the level of a Cindy Crawford or a Naomi Cambpell.
But the controversy does not end there. Thanks to that visa, Melania was able to obtain US citizenship and also bring her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, to the United States, who today are also close to obtaining US citizenship.
All of which is striking in light of Trump's intention to end the process that allows legal immigrants to sponsor visa processing for their close relatives.
“CHAIN MIGRATION must end now! Some people come to the United States and bring all of their family members with them, some of whom can be very bad. THAT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE! ”The mogul trilled in November.
