Melania Trump releases letter from lawyer to prove 'with 100% certainty' she came to U.S. legally

In an attempt to prove she immigrated to the United States legally, Melania Trump on Wednesday released a letter from a lawyer who says he reviewed her case and concluded reports to the contrary are “unequivocally” false.

“I am pleased to enclose a letter from my immigration attorney which states that, with 100% certainty, I correctly went through the legal process when arriving in the USA,” Melania Trump wrote in a statement posted to her Twitter feed.

In the letter, Michael J. Wildes, an attorney who has previously represented several of Donald Trump’s business interests, including Trump Models and the Miss Universe Organization, said he was asked to review media reports that raised questions about her immigration status. It’s a touchy subject, considering Trump has built his GOP campaign, in part, on a vow to deport everyone living in the country illegally.

“It has been suggested by various media outlets that in 1995 Mrs. Trump illegally worked as a model in the United States while on a visitor visa,” Wildes writes. “Following a review of her relevant immigration paperwork, I can unequivocally state that these allegations are not supported by the record, and are therefore completely without merit.”

According to Wildes, Melania Trump “never worked in the United States in 1995 because she was never in the United States in 1995.”

“Mrs. Trump’s first entry to the United States was on August 27, 1996, pursuant to a B-1/B-2 visitor visa,” Wildes explained, citing “documentation” that was not disclosed. “On October 18, 1996, the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia issued Mr. Trump her first H1-B visa, a category which authorizes employment as a model in the United States. Mrs. Trump was thereafter consistently issued H1-B visas, five in total, between October 1996 and 2001, at which point she became a lawful permanent resident, or ‘green card’ holder.”

In interviews with Harper’s Bazaar and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the Slovenian-born Trump said she would “travel every few months” back to the country to renew her visa. But several reports earlier this summer questioned why those trips were necessary, since H1-B work visas are typically issued for three years and can be extended up to six.

“This was not the case for Mrs. Trump,” Wildes countered, “because the Foreign Affairs Manual then used by U.S. Consulates limited the insurance of H-1B visas for Slovenian citizens to only one year. Consistent with this rule, each of Mrs. Trump’s five H-1B visas was issued for a one year period.”

In August, the New York Post ran nude photos of Melania, published by a French magazine, which the paper reported were taken during a 1995 photo shoot in New York City — modeling work that would’ve been illegal without a proper visa.

“The allegation that she participated in a photo shoot in 1995 is not only untrue, it is impossible,” Wildes stated. “In reality, [through] an interview with Mrs. Trump we ascertained that the photo shoot in question did not occur until after she was admitted to the United States in H-1B visa status in October 1996.”

Donald Trump — who married Melania, his third wife, in 2005 — had pledged she would hold a news conference to explain how she secured a green card. But that presser has yet to happen.

“Mrs. Trump did not receive her green card through marriage,” Wildes noted in his letter. “Rather in 2000, Mrs. Trump self-sponsored herself for a green card as a mode of ‘extraordinary ability,’ and on March 19, 2001, she was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident. Based on this timeline, Mrs. Trump became eligible for citizenship in 2006, after five years of continuous permanent residence.”

Melania Trump said she became a U.S. citizen that July.

“Over the past 20 years, I have been fortunate to live, work and raise a family in this great nation,” she said in a statement posted to Twitter in August. “And I share my husband’s love for the country.”

It’s not the first time a part of Melania Trump’s past has come under media scrutiny.

Shortly before questions were raised about her immigration status, Melania Trump’s personal website was pulled down after a biography on the site stated she obtained “a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia.”

But according to a book about the would-be first lady published earlier this year, Melania did not obtain such a degree and left the school after one year to pursue her modeling career.