But I cannot think of a situation where traveling abroad regularly would have been required (at most, one has to travel abroad for a one-time visa status adjustment).
Yeah I know of one person who had to leave the country for some visa issue. They didn't have to go to freakin' Slovenia though. They just had to poke their nose over the border and do whatever paperwork at a US Consulate "overseas". I think they took a day trip by car up to Canada. I've heard all kinds of tales of quirky visa issues and Rube Goldberg remedies but flying to Solovenia every six months is a new one for me... especially on this H1B visa Redban is swearing she had. Who in their right mind would hire someone on an H1B visa that needed to go to Slovenia every six months? I mean all the people I know who have H1B visas have graduate degrees and work in critical jobs that are woefully under supplied. These employers can't just let these guys bolt every six months.
You do realize elite models travel all over the world for work, right? Paris, Milan, New York, etc. all have their own versions of fashion week.
Leaving the country is in their job description.
Your H1B visa analogy fails on that point alone. They are supposed to be mobile.