WELLINGTON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand lawmakers on Wednesday stepped up their questions over how billionaire PayPal founder and Donald Trump supporter Peter Thiel gained citizenship.
The new questions were raised after the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) released documents relating to Thiel's citizenship application, which showed Thiel had visited New Zealand four times but never lived in the country before he was granted citizenship in June 2011.
The 145-page document revealed prominent New Zealand business people had backed Thiel's application on the basis of exceptional circumstances, but the number of days Thiel had actually spent in New Zealand had been redacted.
Thiel, 49, was born in Germany but moved to the United States with his family as an infant and lives in California.
The tech entrepreneur argued in his application that he would better be able to represent New Zealand on the world stage as a citizen.
"He states that being a New Zealand citizen would enable him to represent the country on the international stage and give him greater confidence in mobilising New Zealand's talented entrepreneurs," Internal Affairs officials wrote.
"It would give him great pride to let it be known that he is a New Zealand citizen."
The document also showed that Thiel was made a citizen of New Zealand at a private ceremony in Santa Monica, California.
Critics were asking Wednesday why his New Zealand citizenship had been kept secret before a newspaper inquiry uncovered it by chance last week.
The New Zealand Herald broke the surprise news, reporting that Thiel had acquired three expensive properties without having to gain approval from the government's Overseas Investment Office because he was a citizen.
Overseas nationals wishing to become citizens normally have to spend at least 70 percent of their time in New Zealand over a five-year period before they can even apply.
But then Immigration Minister Nathan Guy signed off Thiel's application on the advice of officials under an exceptional circumstances clause.
"Given the investment Mr Thiel has made in New Zealand companies and the support and contacts he is able to provide, the Department is of the view that granting Mr Thiel's citizenship would be in the public interest due to his exceptional circumstances," the DIA document said.
The main opposition Labour Party on Wednesday demanded to know how Thiel's citizenship benefited New Zealand.
"It's not clear what value New Zealand is getting from granting Mr Thiel citizenship over residency," Labour Party immigration spokesperson Iain Lees-Galloway said in a statement.
"It's clear what the benefits to Mr Thiel are he can buy sensitive land without Overseas Investment Office approval which he has done."
Forbes magazine ranked Thiel as the 248th wealthiest person in the U.S. last year with an estimated net worth of 2.7 billion U.S. dollars and stated his residence as San Francisco, California.
