Irish rap group Kneecap had to be granted special exemptions from New Zealand immigration restrictions as a knock-on effect of being banned from Hungary.
The group is set to perform two gigs in Auckland and Wellington in February 2027 as part of their Fenian world tour.
The group, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, who are known as Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí respectively, have been vocal in their support of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation in Gaza.
The group’s visa applications had been complicated as a result of Hungarian authorities banning them from entering the country to perform at a festival in mid-2025.
At the time, a Hungarian government spokesman accused the band of “anti-Semitic hate speech and open praise for Hamas and Hizbullah”.
Kneecap banned by Hungary ahead of planned festival performance
Hungarian immigration authorities banned the group for three years, claiming that the trio’s entry to the country would “seriously threaten national security”.
This means that, under New Zealand immigration laws, Kneecap members are considered “excluded persons” because they have active travel bans in another country.
As a result, they are not eligible for a visa or entry permission, and a special visa exception had to be made.
A representative for the group declined to comment.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) regional operations director, Dominic Forde, confirmed that the rappers have been granted visitor visas to travel to New Zealand for their performances in February 2027.
Citing the Hungarian entry ban, Forde said the band members are “considered excluded persons for New Zealand immigration purposes and are not eligible to travel under New Zealand’s visa waiver arrangements, nor are they entitled to the grant of a visa or entry permission unless granted a special direction”.
Forde said the band sought a “Special Direction” explaining the “particular circumstances of their case”, which was granted.
INZ said they make hundreds of such special direction decisions each year.
Forde said: “There is currently no provision in the Immigration Act that allows a person to be refused entry to New Zealand solely because of their political views or the opinions they have expressed.
“The granting of a visa is not an endorsement of a person’s views, opinions or activities,” he said. “Rather, it reflects our assessment that the individual meets the requirements to be granted entry to New Zealand.”
It is not the first time the group has faced difficulties because of their political activism.
Ó hAnnaidh was charged in Britain with displaying at a gig a flag in support of Hizbullah, considered a proscribed terror organisation in the UK.
Case against Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh thrown out in London court
The case was thrown out by a court in London last September, and an appeal was thrown out earlier this year, with the rapper labelling the charges a “carnival of distraction” from Israel committing genocide in Gaza.