Melania Trump an undocumented worker in 1996: Report

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump (Getty Images)

Melania Trump, the wife of US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, was paid for modeling jobs in the US before she had legal permission to work in the country, according to documents.

She was paid for 10 modeling jobs in 1996 worth $20,056, which was seven weeks before obtaining the necessary documents to legally work in the country, The Associated Press reported Friday, citing accounting ledgers, contracts and related documents.

The details of Melania Trump’s early paid modeling work in the US emerged in the final days of a bitter presidential campaign in which her husband has taken a tough stance on immigration laws and those who violate them.

The wife of the Republican presidential nominee, who became a US citizen in 2006, has claimed she arrived in the country legally and never violated the terms of her immigration status. During the presidential campaign, she has cited her story to defend her husband’s hard line on immigration.

Melania Trump has said through an attorney that she first came to the US from Slovenia on August 27, 1996 on a visitor visa and then obtained a work visa on October 18, 1996. Foreigners are not allowed to use a visitor visa to do paid work in the US for American companies.

"The documents examined by the AP indicate that the modeling assignments would have been outside the bounds of her visa," AP reports.

Trump has repeatedly made disparaging remarks about immigrants throughout his campaign, particularly immigrants from Mexico and the Middle East.

The race between Trump and Clinton represents a battle between two of the least liked major party candidates in history. Recent surveys have found Clinton and Trump as the most unpopular presidential candidates in decades.

An overwhelming majority of American voters are disgusted by the state of US politics and doubt that either of the two main presidential nominees can unite the country after a historically bitter presidential campaign, according to the final pre-election New York Times/CBS News Poll.