Snoop Dogg had to fight for his Australian visa

As you may have read in the news, US rap artist Ja Rule who was forced to cancel one of his shows in Sydney after Australian immigration officials delayed the processing of his visa application.

Poor Ja Rule. He’s had to hastily re-schedule his tour and new waits to have a fresh visa application granted.

But he’s not the only rap star to have felt the full force of the Australian Immigration Department.

In March 2009, Californian-born, Grammy Award winning rapper Coolio, was arrested at Los Angeles airport for possessiion of illegal drug substances. He had to cancel two gigs in Brisbane and Melbourne as a result.

Arguably the mother of all immigration-versus-rap star feuds came when Snoop Dogg attempted to enter Australia in 2007.

The ex-gang member and former jailbird was not allowed to enter the country after Australian Immigration officials judged against him on grounds of character. The rap star has a string of convictions, ranging from drug offences to possession of firearms.

Snoop went on to miss his scheduled appearance at the MTV Australian Video Music Awards and his ban remained in place for several other attempts at visiting the country.

Snoop’s ban was not lifted by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (ADIC) until the following year. The ADIC said: “In making this decision, the department weighed his criminal convictions agsinst his previous behaviour while in Australia, recent conduct – including charity work – and any likely risk to the Australian community… We took into account all relevant factors and, on balance, the department decided to grant the visa.”

The tribulations of rapper’s travels in Australia continued, when, in 2008, JoJo, from R&B outfit K-Ci and JoJofainted, on stage during a live set in Sydney. To be fair, he did manage to get his Australian visa without any bother.

Australian Immigration may be one of the strictest in the world, but it still doesn’t explain all the bad luck that has followed the rap stars itrying to get into the country.

Can anyone shed any light on this?