Larry Page, who was born in Lansing, Michigan, has obtained New Zealand residency for himself and his family indefinitely.
As CNBC reports, the Google co-founder applied for residency in the country back in November last year. There are several routes to residency offered by New Zealand, and Page chose the “Investor 1 Resident Visa.” It requires the individual to invest $7 million (NZ $10 million) in the country over a three-year period. In return, Page, his partner, and his dependent children obtain indefinite residency.
As Page has an estimated net worth of around $112 billion, meeting the investment requirement was always going to be easy. However, the application couldn’t be processed in November because Page wasn’t in New Zealand and he couldn’t travel there due to pandemic restrictions. The situation changed on Jan. 11 when the Page family filed for an urgent application, with the reason being a medical emergency to evacuate Page’s son from Fiji. Larry Page subsequently traveled to New Zealand on Jan. 12.
On Feb. 4, the residency was confirmed as approved by the country’s immigration department, but as the BBC reports, it has raised question marks over the process, especially considering we’re still in a pandemic. Immigration adviser Katy Armstrong appeared on Radio New Zealand and said, “We have got these GPs or nurses who are stuck in an interminable waiting room to get their residence, whereas Larry [Page] comes in and boom, straight away can become a resident.”
New Zealand Health Minister Andrew Little defended the decision in parliament, stating “[His entry] met all the standard conditions of a medical emergency requiring a medical evacuation from the islands, and every requirement and regulation that was in place… was complied with.”
Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Google parent company Alphabet in December 2019. It’s unclear what Page intends to do with his time going forward, but back in 2018 Air New Zealand was very interested in his air taxis.
