Overview

• During a June 25 House Judiciary hearing, Rep. Jasmine Crockett challenged Melania Trump’s 2001 EB-1 approval, arguing that her modeling career lacked the sustained acclaim the visa demands.
• Immigration lawyers and USCIS guidance confirm that EB-1 adjudications rely on officer discretion and do not require Nobel-level awards, raising questions about consistency.
• USCIS continues vetting applications under tightened scrutiny even as it issues roughly 40,000 EB-1 visas annually, with significant backlogs driven by demand from India and China.
• Visa agents in India have intensified campaigns promising “guaranteed” EB-1 approvals through tactics like ghostwriting research papers and fabricating media coverage.
• Critics warn that the EB-1’s subjective criteria and limited quotas create loopholes for exploitation, challenging efforts to balance elite talent recruitment with procedural integrity.