Google co-founder Larry Page. AFP FILE PHOTO
MELBOURNE — Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and one of the world’s richest men, has become a New Zealand resident, with immigration services saying he had applied under a category for wealthy investors.
“Larry Page submitted an application for residence under the Investor Plus Category on 3 November 2020,” Immigration New Zealand said in an e-mailed statement on Saturday.
“As he was offshore at the time his application was not able to be processed because of COVID-19 restrictions. Once Mr. Page entered New Zealand his application was able to be processed and it was approved on 4 February 2021.”
The visa requires applicants to have NZ$10 million ($7 million) to invest in New Zealand over a three-year period, according to a statement on the immigration website.
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
New Zealand closed its borders to visitors at the start of the pandemic, except for the on-and-off travel bubble with Australia. The country allows only a limited number of returnees, requiring them to spend two weeks in a government-run quarantine facility.
Together with snap and strict lockdowns and high compliance with public health rules, the closed borders have helped keep COVID-19 out of the Pacific nation. There have been only 2,524 confirmed cases of the coronavirus so far.
