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The beauty-versus-geek argument is being made by Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who says New York City needs the foreign models to be able to get into the country to work with the world's best fashion photographers or else the jobs will move overseas, the Web site Politico.com reported Wednesday.

Weiner said the fashion shoots are a major economic force in the city but that foreign models are lumped into the same limited visa category, H-1B, as highly sought computer engineers. So, under an immigration bill cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, models would be moved into a new P-4 category that has been established for athletes and entertainers, the Web site said.

The committee report accompanying the Senate bill said the U.S. government issued between 614 and 790 visas to models each year from 2000-05 but fell to 349 in fiscal year 2007, producing what in essence has been a foreign model shortage, Politico.com reported.

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