--- title: Melania Trump Says She Immigrated Legally description: Melania Trump on Thursday confirmed that she immigrated to the United States legally in 1996, in a statement posted on Twitter canonical: https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-04T15:47:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:46.632Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Says She Immigrated Legally og:description: She responded to a new report raising questions about her immigration timeline og:url: https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23521044198c41d4/6988a11b524fc06b5fdf909d/melania-trump-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3546 og:image:height: 1995 og:image:alt: 2016 Republican National Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Says She Immigrated Legally twitter:description: She responded to a new report raising questions about her immigration timeline twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23521044198c41d4/6988a11b524fc06b5fdf909d/melania-trump-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Says She Has Always Been a Legal Immigrant > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 4, 2016 3:47 PM UTC  Melania Trump, wife of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18, 2016. Melania Trump, wife of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18, 2016.Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 4, 2016 3:47 PM UTC [Melania Trump](http://time.com/4241924/melania-trump-donald-trump-language/?iid=sr-link4) on Thursday confirmed that she immigrated to the United States legally in 1996, in a [statement posted on Twitter](https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/761212858944421888). “In recent days there has been a lot of inaccurate reporting and misinformation concerning my immigration status back in 1996\. Let me set the record straight: I have at all times been in full compliance with the immigration laws of this country. Period. Any allegation to the contrary is simply untrue,” she [said in the statement](https://twitter.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/761212858944421888). “In July 2006, I proudly became a U.S. citizen. Over the past 20 years, I have been fortunate to live, work and raise a family in this great nation and I share my husband’s love for our country.” A [Politico story](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648) raised questions on Thursday about the timing of Trump’s arrival in the U.S. and whether her visa would have authorized her to work as a model. Her husband, Republican nominee Donald Trump, has campaigned heavily [against illegal immigration](http://time.com/4384038/donald-trump-immigration-position-shifting-policies/) throughout the presidential race. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Says She Has Always Been a Legal Immigrant","datePublished":"2016-08-04T15:47:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:46.632Z","description":"She responded to a new report raising questions about her immigration timeline","url":"https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","Melania Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23521044198c41d4/6988a11b524fc06b5fdf909d/melania-trump-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23521044198c41d4/6988a11b524fc06b5fdf909d/melania-trump-immigration.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Republican National Convention","caption":"2016 Republican National Convention","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4438888/melania-trump-immigration-legal/","name":"Melania Trump Says She Has Always Been a Legal Immigrant"}}]}] ```