WASHINGTON — Melania Trump’s former agent says she obtained a work visa before she modeled professionally in the United States in the mid-1990s. Those comments came Thursday after questions about Mrs. Trump’s own remarks that appeared inconsistent with U.S. immigration rules.
Paolo Zampolli said while he was a partner at Metropolitan Models, he secured a work visa for Mrs. Trump then known as Melania Knauss. But in interviews earlier this year, her comments seemed inconsistent with holding a work visa.
“I never thought to stay here without papers. I had a visa. I traveled every few months back to the country to Slovenia to stamp the visa,” she said during an MSNBC interview.
U.S. immigration law did not require such trips that Mrs. Trump describes for work-visa holders at the time.
Donald Trump’s campaign declined to clarify her comments or discuss Mrs. Trump’s immigration history in detail.