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I recently read a forum post online claiming that Melania Trump is a Slovenian citizen. However, I haven't heard anything about this in the news and couldn't find information online.

It is common knowledge that she was born in Slovenia. According to this article, she immigrated to the USA in 1995 or 1996. According to RefWorld, people who were Slovenian-Yugoslav citizens and residents of Slovenia upon independence in 1990 acquired Slovenian citizenship automatically. As I understand it, she lived there at this time.

As she doesn't seem to have automatically lost citizenship under the clauses that automatically revoke citizenship, she likely would have needed to renounce it to not be a citizen(assuming that she did indeed acquire that citizenship in the first place).

I have, however, found no credible discussion of whether or not she has renounced her Slovenian citizenship. It does seem odd to me, however, that it hasn't come up in an interview if she maintains her citizenship.

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  • According to the linked page on Slovenian citizenship, they do not officially recognize dual citizenship. In principle, then, she probably had to voluntarily renounce Slovenian citizenship when becoming a US citizen. However, in practice, I have no idea how strictly Slovenia might have enforced restrictions on dual citizenship at the time she became a US citizen.
    – Dave Sherohman
    Dec 1, 2016 at 8:52
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    Is this a notable claim? Someone speculating on a forum? [If there was a "none of our damned business" close reason, I would certainly consider this one a candidate.]
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Dec 1, 2016 at 8:55
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    @DaveSherohman Why would she have to voluntarily renounce to that citizenship? According to US laws or Slovenian ones? Also: I believe it would be important to answer this question to check when she obtained American citizenship because, for example, typically, obtaining a citizenship via marriage allows dual citizenships in almost every case.
    – Bakuriu
    Dec 2, 2016 at 20:47
  • @Bakuriu: As I said in my earlier comment, "According to the linked page on Slovenian citizenship, they do not officially recognize dual citizenship." If Slovenia does not recognize dual citizenship, then that implies that Slovenia requires Slovenian citizens to renounce Slovenian citizenship if they wish to obtain a non-Slovenian nationality. But it's only an implication, not a definitive statement, which is why I posted it as a comment, not an answer.
    – Dave Sherohman
    Dec 3, 2016 at 10:05
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    @DaveSherohman: That doesn't actually imply that. The United States doesn't officially recognize double citizenship either, but that doesn't mean a U.S. citizen has to lose their U.S. citizenship if they have citizenship recognized by any other country. immigration.findlaw.com/citizenship/dual-citizenship.html
    – paradisi
    Dec 5, 2016 at 1:24

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In countries that grant citizenship by right of blood (as Slovenia does), it's typical that natural-born citizens are not required(by Slovenia) to give up their citizenship upon gaining citizenship in another country.

Per the US Embassy in Slovenia, dual citizenship is possible.

As to Melania's specific status, I don't have access to any documents proving it one way or the other, but it is legal and likely, considering she's a natural Slovenian citizen married to an American.

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