What nationality is Melania Trump?

Melania Trump is the long-suffering wife of former United States president and America’s most orange man, Donald Trump who, of course, is currently facing a litany of criminal charges. That makes her a former First Lady of the United States, but the former model wasn’t born in the country.

Melanija Knavs—the name she was given at birth—was born on April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, one of the six federal republics that formed what was known as Yugoslavia until 1991.

Since its creation in November 1945, the area has been known by several names: Federal Slovenia until 1946, the People’s Republic of Slovenia until 1963, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia until 1990, and the Republic of Slovenia until 1991. Although it’s now reverted to being called the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, it’s more commonly referred to as Slovenia.

The evolving status of her place of birth, coupled with Melania’s relocation to the United States, means her nationality has changed over the years.

How has Melania Trump’s nationality changed over the years?

Given that Yugoslavia still existed in 1970, Melania Trump held Yugoslavian citizenship from the day she was born until it disbanded on June 25, 1991.

Her nationality changed that day with millions of other Yugoslavian citizens who lived in its six federal republics—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Melania became a Slovenian national, and she remains so to this day.

In 1996, she relocated to the United States and found a home in Manhattan, New York City. Two years later, she met Donald Trump at a party. They’d been together for seven years by the time they married on Jan. 22, 2005, and on July 28, 2006, Melania became a U.S. citizen.

As of 2024, she maintains multiple citizenship and is considered Slovenian-American, as is Barron Trump, the son she shares with her husband.