It's good to have friends in high places. Peter Thiel is the one with brown hair.

OPINION: Santa Monica is a swanky seaside city in Southern California, part of Los Angeles' sprawl.

In August 2011, an American man known for his eccentric views, boisterous pals and genius for making money, made this oath or something near to it in a small, private ceremony.

"I swear," he said, "that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of New Zealand, her heirs and successors, according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of New Zealand and fulfil my duties as a New Zealand citizen. So help me God."

As is customary at New Zealand citizenship ceremonies he may then have been given a small tree to mark the day.

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John Hawkins Another proud citizen: Miss Priyanka Akashni Chand receives her citizenship certificate from Mayor Tim Shadbolt.

His name was Peter Thiel, a German-born American, who, as we all know now, was a child chess prodigy, founded PayPal and invested very wisely in Facebook to become a billionaire.

Thiel, who owns nice houses in Auckland and Queenstown, recently purchased a spectacularly located block of land on the shores of Lake Wanaka.

If we are going to sell citizenship, it's hard to imagine a better candidate.

His contribution to the New Zealand economy far outweighs any service or benefit the country provides to him.

He has donated $1m to the Christchurch earthquake relief effort and has invested heavily in two large IT companies and in real estate.

No doubt he will be building a marvellous house on his land in Wanaka which can only be good for the Otago economy at least for a short time. Maybe he won't build a mansion and just leave the land the way it is, which would be great too.

Harry How Santa Monica: A public announcement but not Thiel's citizenship.

Since he has the ear of The Donald, he could make a splendid advocate for New Zealand in the White House and his personal contacts in Silicon Valley could be invaluable.

He has many wealthy friends and no doubt many of those will be encouraged to come to New Zealand to sample his and our hospitality and to spend up large.

Thiel is also strong and healthy and doesn't have any children or elderly parents who could become a burden on our small but vibrant economy.

DASHA KUPRIENKO/FAIRFAX NZ A Queenstown property owned by a company of which Peter Thiel is a director.

And since he is hardly ever here he doesn't even draw much of our air. He is, in short, an ideal citizen so what's the problem?

First, people don't like the way he got his citizenship. The Government used a little-used section of the Citizenship Act to bestow the honour on him and it does look a bit like he had a helping hand from political friends.

But if you can't make exceptions for American billionaires prepared to invest millions in New Zealand and to sing our praises overseas, who can you make exceptions for?

MARJORIE COOK/FAIRFAX NZ Damper Bay on Lake Wanaka, where Peter Thiel owns land.

Others say the country should have known about this. However, nowhere does it say that the Government must publish lists of new citizens and it's highly likely nobody would have noticed Thiel's name if it did.

Then it's said he only got citizenship so he wouldn't have to go through the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) process to buy his block in Wanaka.

If he became a citizen for that reason he was badly advised. The OIO hardly refuses anyone. With the right business plan, the promise of a few jobs for the locals, a donation to the local hapu and the setting aside of a public walking track down to the lakeside, he would have been a certainty.

Another objection you will hear is that Thiel is just using New Zealand as a bolthole. The Russians have another name for it. A spare landing strip.

This is a bad reason to come to New Zealand and we shouldn't encourage it unless the country would reap some real benefits. There are plenty of Russians, Chinese and other nationalities who have bought property in New Zealand and who continue to spend most of their time in their countries of origin.

Apart from acquiring some beachfront real estate and providing a few short term jobs, these sort of immigrants contribute almost nothing to the country. At least Thiel has invested substantially in New Zealand businesses even if he hasn't started another PayPal or Facebook.

So what's left to get exercised about?

Well he's obscenely rich and a Trump supporter but these are not yet a crime.

Perhaps the objection with the most justification is that granting citizenship to someone like Thiel shows that we can be bought and that is dishonourable and, yes, sort of icky.

But we should be more honest about this. We do sell citizenship or residency in the name of encouraging investment and entrepreneurship. We fool ourselves, however, if we think people whose main object in life is to make money, will leave their countries, where they have been successful, just to set up new businesses in New Zealand. They come here for other, understandable reasons, which is why the results of these business schemes have been very marginal at best.

The difference between how we treat refugees and someone like Thiel is another good reason why a case like Thiel's feels unsavoury. Perhaps we should get every very rich immigrant to pay for their citizenship by sponsoring a large number of refugees.

We certainly hope citizenship is more than a business transaction and in his application Thiel's lawyer argues that citizenship "is the public recognition of a hallowed bond".

If we get behind the high-minded language, citizenship may have more in common with the bond the US Treasury issues.