Derek Handley was granted New Zealand citizenship despite not fulfilling a basic residency requirement, a news report has revealed.
To become a citizen of New Zealand, a person must spend 1350 days in the country over the course of five years. Mr Handley fell significantly short of that requirement, clocking in just 485 days here during his allotted five-year period, NZME reports.
The 40-year-old entrepreneur first submitted his application for citizenship to then Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne in November 2016. It included a letter from a law firm making the case for granting citizenship under exceptional circumstances, as well as character references from business titans such as Sir Ray Avery.
Mr Handley submitted another application a year later, this time to current Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin on November 10, 2017, NZME reports. At this time, Mr Handley was 865 days short of the 1350 days of residency required of citizenship applicants.
Nineteen days later Ms Martin granted Mr Handley citizenship under the exceptional circumstances and public interest provision of the Citizenship Act.
Mr Handley's 2016 application included a letter from law firm Chen Palmer, which highlighted his strong ties to New Zealand.
He was born in Hong Kong but moved here at the age of four and was granted permanent residency. He went to school and university in New Zealand, but the frequent travel required by his career meant he didn't spend enough time here to qualify for citizenship. His wife and son are both New Zealand citizens.
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Mr Handley made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed he'd been offered the newly-created role of Chief Technology Officer. His job application was controversial as former Minister Clare Curran failed to record a meeting she'd had with him in February.
The offer was later withdrawn and Mr Handley was paid a settlement of more than $100,000, while Ms Curran was removed from Cabinet.
Newshub.
