He was granted citizenship during a private ceremony held at the New Zealand Consulate in Santa Monica. Thiel wrote that "it would give me great pride to let it be known that I am a New Zealand citizen." However, Thiel's citizenship status only became publicly known following last month's newspaper report. When considering Thiel's application, New Zealand officials noted that he had established a venture capital fund in New Zealand, which had invested in a Wellington-based online accounting business, Xero. His citizenship was granted through a special approval by lawmaker Nathan Guy, who at the time was the Internal Affairs minister.

Source: CBC News February 01, 2017 08:29 UTC