Tech billionaire Peter Thiel gained New Zealand citizenship through “public interest due to his exceptional circumstances”, documents released on Wednesday (February 1) by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) under the Official Information Act show. 

Thiel, who co-founded online payment company PayPal and was the first outside investor in Facebook, made headlines last week when it was revealed he was able to buy 193 lakefront hectares at Glendhu Bay in 2015 as he is a New Zealand citizen, despite having never lived here. 

Had he not been a citizen, such a purchase would probably have run afoul of Overseas Investment Office “sensitive land” restrictions limiting the purchase of land by foreign residents.

Questions were asked as it seemed Thiel did not meet the standard requirements for citizenship under the Citizenship Act, which would require an applicant to be “present” in New Zealand for a minimum of 1,350 days over five years, including at least 240 days per year.

The DIA papers show Thiel, who is a supporter of Donald Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2016, gained his passport despite not meeting the regular criteria.

The documents confirm Thiel did not meet the “presence in New Zealand” standard, nor did he meet the “intention to reside” requirement for an applicant for citizenship, for which an applicant must intend to live in New Zealand, or work for a New Zealand company overseas. 

However, citizenship can be also be granted if it is deemed citizenship would “be in the public interest.” 

The DIA documents, which recommend that citizenship be granted due to “exceptional circumstances [which] relate to his skill as an entrepreneur and his philanthropy”, cite Thiel’s investment in the NZX-listed accounting software company Xero and Pacific Fibre, a company which plans to install fibre optic cable between New Zealand, Australia and the US, as well as “using his connections in San Francisco to help introduce New Zealand companies to the US.” 

They also refer to the million dollar donation Thiel made to the Christchurch earthquake relief fund. 

TradeMe founder Sam Morgan, who is also a co-founder/chairman of Pacific Fibre, and Rod Drury, CEO and founder of Xero, both wrote to the DIA in support of Thiel’s application.

Nathan Guy, who was the Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, signed off on Thiel’s citizenship in 2011. 

Speaking on Radio NZ on Thursday morning (February 2), Drury said Thiel was one of the “sort of people we should be targeting. Maybe we need more of them.” 

“We should be asking Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Bill Gates,” he said. “People like that create massive value for the country, massive value for shareholders, they create jobs.” 

However Labour Party immigration spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway was less enthusiastic, calling the process “flawed”, as it was able to happen behind closed doors and because it implied our New Zealand citizenship was “a commodity that was up for sale.” 

Thiel was born in Frankfurt and already held German and American dual citizenship. With a net worth assessed at $2.7 billion, Peter Thiel is number 246 on the Forbes 400 list of the American’s wealthiest people.

PHOTO: Forbes