{"id":317314,"date":"2021-08-06T20:56:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/google-co-founder-gets-new-zealand-residency-raising-questions\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T20:56:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T17:56:29","slug":"google-co-founder-gets-new-zealand-residency-raising-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/google-co-founder-gets-new-zealand-residency-raising-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"#Google co-founder gets New Zealand residency, raising questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Google co-founder gets New Zealand residency, raising questions<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Google co-founder Larry Page has gained New Zealand residency, officials confirmed Friday, stoking debate over whether extremely wealthy people can essentially buy access to the South Pacific country.<\/p>\n

Immigration New Zealand said Page first app<\/a>lied for residency in November under a special visa open to people with at least 10 million New Zealand dollars ($7 million) to invest.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs he was offshore at the time, his application was not able to be processed because of COVID-19 restrictions,\u201d the agency said in a statement. \u201cOnce Mr. Page entered New Zealand, his application was able to be processed and it was approved on 4 February 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaining New Zealand residency would not necessarily affect Page\u2019s residency status in the U.S. or any other nations.<\/p>\n

New Zealand lawmakers confirmed that Page and his son first arrived in New Zealand in January after the family filed an urgent application for the son to be evacuated from Fiji due to a medical emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day after the application was received, a New Zealand air ambulance staffed by a New Zealand ICU nurse-escort medevaced the child and an adult family member from Fiji to New Zealand,\u201d Health Minister Andrew Little told lawmakers in Parliament.<\/p>\n

Little was responding to questions about how Page had managed to enter the country at a time when New Zealand had shut its borders to non-residents in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Jacinda
Opposition lawmakers are critical of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern\u2019s administration, questioning how Larry Page gained entry to the nation when it turned away so many others in response to COVID-19.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Little told lawmakers the family had abided by applicable virus protocols when they arrived.<\/p>\n

Page\u2019s residency application was approved about three weeks later.<\/p>\n

Immigration New Zealand noted that while Page had become a resident, he didn\u2019t have permanent residency status and remained subject to certain restrictions.<\/p>\n

Still, the agency on its website touts the \u201cInvestor Plus\u201d visa as offering a \u201cNew Zealand lifestyle,\u201d adding that \u201cyou may be able to bring your car, boat and household items to New Zealand, free of customs charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"New
New Zealand touts its \u201cInvestor Plus\u201d visa, offering up the nation as a place where applicants may be able to bring their \u201ccar, boat and household items to New Zealand, free of customs charges.\u201d<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Some local news<\/a> organizations reported that Page had since left New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Google did not immedia<\/a>tely respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Forbes on Friday ranked Page as the world\u2019s sixth-wealthiest person, with a fortune of $117 billion. Forbes noted that Page stepped down as chief executive of Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet in 2019 but remained a board member and controlling shareholder.<\/p>\n

Opposition lawmakers said the episode raised questions about why Page was approved so quickly at a time when many skilled workers or separated family members who were desperate to enter New Zealand were being turned away.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Peter
Billionaire investor Peter Thiel gained New Zealand citizenship a few years ago without ever having lived in the country, granted citizenship at the New Zealand consulate in California.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe government is sending a message that money is more important than doctors, fruit pickers and families who are separated from their children,\u201d ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In 2017, it emerged that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had been able to gain New Zealand citizenship six years earlier, despite never having lived in the country. Thiel was approved after a top lawmaker decided his entrepreneurial skills and philanthropy were valuable to the nation.<\/p>\n

Thiel didn\u2019t even have to leave California for the ceremony \u2014 he was granted citizenship during a private ceremony held at the New Zealand Consulate in Santa Monica.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Google co-founder gets New Zealand residency, raising questions” Google co-founder Larry Page has gained New Zealand residency, officials confirmed Friday, stoking debate over whether extremely wealthy people can essentially buy access to the South Pacific country. Immigration New Zealand said Page first applied for residency in November under a special visa open to people with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":317315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/page-gains-kiwi-residency2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[113541,1545,74134,112676,74135],"class_list":["post-317314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-6-21","tag-coronavirus","tag-jacinda-ardern","tag-larry-page","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}