Fashion Models Vie With Engineers for Skilled-Worker Visas

If the tech industry gets what it wants from immigration reform, the U.S. will allot thousands more visas for software engineers and other highly skilled workers every year. Because of a decades-old quirk in the law, another group would also benefit: models.

The U.S. government grants hundreds of visas to models every year. Although more than half don’t have high school diplomas, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of federal data, the government puts them in the same H-1B category as scientists and software engineers, who need a college degree to qualify. Fashion models only have to show immigration officials that they’re well-known in the industry. “It’s the one exception that we all scratch our heads about,” says Neil Ruiz, a senior policy analyst at Brookings.