So no one who has to go here is ever in a particularly good mood. I mean, who gets excited about having to register as an immigrant with the local authorities? The Garda National Immigration Bureau (or as most people call it the GNIB) is situated on the south side of the quays, next to the Tara Street Station. You would be amazed by the amount of people that fit into this modest building. When I was there on a Friday morning, there were at least 200 people waiting to speak to someone and get their passport stamped. The GNIB is confusing even to those who can read and speak English. You don't know where to queue and what forms you need. You're ignored for two hours until your number appears on the blinking screen and then you cross your fingers that the clerk is nice and doesn't send you back home for more information. I would sum up my experience here as painful and excruciatingly boring and compare it to a long wait in the emergency room where there's tons of commotion and unhappy people. read more

Garda National Immigration Bureau - Public Services & Government Near Me - Dublin, D

GNIB Update: I returned to GNIB around 9:45am on a Friday just before a holiday weekend and they ran out of tickets by 10:00am! True story. I was told to return around 4:00pm and I might score 'the golden ticket'. However, I'm going to give GNIB an extra star, as the GNIB rep (very nice and helpful) took the time to give me a bit more very useful information: * Arrive between 8-9am to get in line and secure a ticket * Plan on showing up midweek as it's less packed: Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday mornings are best * Avoid Mondays, Fridays & holiday weekends * Bring your 'partner' if you have a Defacto Relationship visa * Bring something to read (my personal tip) (I'm a bit overdue renewing my visa but I'm allowed to stay in Ireland so that's another good reason for the extra star ... ;) -------------------------------------- Ah, GNIB... Made my yearly march and 'rite of passage' to the GNIB office to renew my annual visa. The business hours are a bit deceiving because what they don't tell ya is that if you arrive around 1pm, which is when peeps take their lunch breaks (are there staggered lunch breaks...?), some of the operations seem to come to a stand still. Also, apparently there are a number of 'tickets' they'll distribute for the day. So, even if you show up long before they close, it's a bit of a gamble to get your hands on a 'golden ticket'! So, me and my peeps in line - aka friends with familiar frustrations - started to get antsy around 1:05pm when the service reps began disappearing. Apparently, they did run out of the coveted tickets. But, noone had it in them to announce that to those waiting in line (?) until someone (aka ME) asked what was going on...! At reception I was told that the office opens at 8:00am and closes at 9:00pm. This is after we were finally officially informed that they were out of tickets and to return the following day. So, in reality, the business hours don't carry as much weight (experienced something similar last year so it's clearly an issue.) Add insult to my injury: Gotta fork up three hundred euro annually for this 'above and beyond' service! read more

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I'm in Ireland on a two year working holiday visa. Being that I'm from Canada I need to get the GNIB card and pay 300 Euros for it. I did my working holiday visa through SWAP/USIT and during the orientation they recommended getting to the Garda office early. They weren't lying. I got in queue at 630am (keep in mind they don't open until 8am) and the line was around the block. It eventually went to the other side of the the building. Silly me I forgot to charge my phone or bring something to do/read. I counted the windows on the building in front of me. There's 770. Anyway at 8am the doors opened and we were given a number. I was 119. I asked one of the officers who'd been directing traffic how long it would take, and he looked at my number and said to come back at 11. Luckily I'm staying only a few blocks away so I went back to my hotel and had breakfast. I went back at 10, just in case, and they were only on 48. I went out again, had some lunch, wandered around Grafton Street and came back at 1pm. My number was finally called close to 2pm. The waiting room is quite busy with people. There's lots of restless families and kids. I feel sorry for the parents there, and would recommend if you have to to go to the GNIB office with kids to bring something for them to do. You could be here for a while. The interview itself only took a few minutes. I had all the forms I needed. For my address I just had the hotel I'm staying at print a receipt with my name on it, because I don't have a permanent address in Dublin yet (I need to get a job first and for that I need the GNIB card and then when I get a job I can find a place to live). They take your photo and your fingerprints and you have to pay 300 Euros by card. If you can pay with a credit card that won't charge you any foreign transaction fees so you'll save a little bit of money. The part that makes it the worst is after this is done you still have to wait for the card to be finished. And while the Garda Officer told me it would be a few minutes it was closer to two hours. They don't call the number you had earlier from standing in line, but will call your name (actually they'll say "National of Canada (or whatever country your from)" and then your name). My name is a bit different, so I kept listening because I was worried it would be mispronounced and I might miss it. The officers were fine and professional. I didn't have any issues getting the card, but the system of standing in line to get a number and then waiting another two hours to get a card is a little ridiculous. I'm sure there are far worse bureaucratic systems out in other countries, but there has to be something better here. I did see signs in the waiting room saying they were going to start taking appointments in the fall, but not for new GNIB cards. Oh well at least I won't have to do this again. Tips - Get there early. Apparently it gets really busy in September and January with students, so you might want to plan ahead. - Wear comfortable shoes, because you'll be standing for a few hours. - Bring something to do while you stand in line/wait in the waiting room. - If you have kids especially bring something to keep them occupied. Maybe have some snacks on hand as well (good for kids and adults...no one wants to be hangry). - If you have a higher number ask a staff member approximately how long it will take. If they tell you it'll be a few hours you might as well head out for a bit instead of staying inside the waiting room. - Be polite to the staff working there, and answer their questions honestly. Getting upset won't help you. - Make sure to have all the paperwork you need, so you don't have to go back and do this again. read more

Wow, it's hard to rate the Garda after that great review by Joshua. I just wanted to give a little tip to new comers: if you're going because you've started school, make sure you talk to you International Office about when the mass immigration trek is. Every year they group up 50 students, and you're allowed to go there right before it closes and have all your work done in three hours tops opposed to the 8-11 hour horror stories my roommates had. Also, easier go really late or really early - like, right before they open early, or an hour before they close late. read more

The GNIB is inefficient and incompetent even by government bureaucracy standards. I also have beef with one of their power-hungry employees--an obnoxious, flippant, and apathetic man that should lose his job for the inhumane way he treats people. I experienced it myself and I saw him treat others with complete disrespect. I feel horrible for those whose lack of English caused them to walk away without getting the answers they needed. He would not give me a straight answer until I refused to move out of the way and was holding up traffic in his line. I finally got the answer I was looking for but shame on him for keeping information from me and shame on the GNIB for keeping him employed. I would write a complaint letter today if I thought it wouldn't somehow come back to bite me in the end. I am confident that people like him get what is coming to them... Also getting in the door should not be an accomplishment. Queuing up at 6:30am to get a ticket to return at 4:30pm to queue up for another ticket and then wait for your name to be called at 10:30pm? Shockingly wasteful of my time. read more

No amount of political allowance can compensate for the amount of hours that have been lost within these walls. Not even just hours alone, but it seems as though all my worldly ambitions -all that I hold sacred- have faded away. For the first 6 hours I was frustrated, by the last 3 I yearned for the sweet relief of death. But hey, I got my Garda card! #welcometoireland read more

Garda National Immigration Bureau - Drains beneath the seats to catch their victim's tears. - Public Services & Government Near Me - Dublin, D

This bureau has one of the most inefficient processes I have seen! They have bad queuing system in place; no matter what you do; you invariably end up wasting most of your day just waiting around. I was here one occasion for renewing GNIB card, came in early to queue outside at 6.45 am (office opens at 8), I was done with the application by 9 am. It took them 3 hours more just to print my new GNIB card when they already had my photo, finger prints, address, all details in the system! The next day I was back for the re-entry visa, came in early at 6 am (still wasn't good enough - some 100 people ahead of me queuing). They ran out of tokens for the re-entry visa even half an hour before they opened. I was lucky to get the token but I finished the process by 2.30 pm. The people who work there are ok. They take frequent coffee breaks. GNIB office has13 counters only half of them are open most times. Visa office has only 4. They should seriously consider giving appointments online and stop wasting people's time. read more

This is hell! This is where you line up for 2 hours to get a ticket to join another queue! Hopeless organisation and a staff who seem to wander back and forth chatting jovially to each other are the biggest issues I can see, but I'm sure there is only more ridiculous inefficiency going on behind the scenes... There are 15 service desks, about 4 of which are manned and one of those has an old guy sitting behind it catching up on his paperwork, Completely oblivious to the 300 or so people who could use his help right in front of him. This is a temple of mediocrity. There were very nice very friendly people working there, but any of that was offset by the colossal failure of the system they have. We ended up being there for 13 Hours!!! for one simple stamp, that we already had a letter from the saying we could have. A utter joke. read more

So, how the heck does one rate a government agency? After all, it's this exact kind of bureaucratic hellplace that most of us spend our adult lives trying to avoid. So here was my criteria: 1) How responsive were they to questions before I got there 2) How accurate was the information they gave me 3) How easy was it to figure out where to go 4) How efficient was the process 5) How clean/comfortable was the waiting area ('cause you KNOW you're going to be waiting...) The GNIB email link on the Garda website worked well, and they responded to my email query about renewing my GNIB Card within 3 working days. And the paperwork they told us to bring was definitely NOT what we would have brought (P60...really?), but was exactly what was asked for on the day. That's a star. When we arrived 30 minutes before the main office opened, we asked the guard at reception where exactly to go. He told us to go upstairs and "join the big queue in the middle of the room". We did just that. 5 minutes before the 8am opening, the enquiries desk started calling the line forward to get people their # to see a real live agent. This, plus the fact that the big reception room was open before the service was scheduled to start gets a star, because nobody had to wait outside in the rain. The waiting area itself has bigger than average seats (nice for my bigger than average backside), and was very clean. The bathrooms have this weird blacklight thing going on for drug/firearm residue, and there is a big (and clean) water cooler with plenty of cups. One star there. And lastly, a star for efficiency (they were SLOW, but efficient). There was no chaos at the counters, no petty bureaucratic BS, and the staff was more pleasant than I've experienced at many retail/service outlets in Dublin. Everybody was working steadily away. Bottom Line: I've been to much...much...worse... read more

Each time I have had to wait in line to renew my immigration card it has taken between 2-3 hours. I discovered after my last visit that my mistake is that I always try to go in the mornings on a work day. Apparently this is when everyone goes. The trick is to go in the afternoon. My last visit took about 2.5 hours and my friend went later in the afternoon and maybe took 15-30 minutes. Also someone pointed out to me that they close at 8-9 on some nights. Definitely look into this as someone told me they got right in and out one late evening. While the wait is really long, the people who do the renewals are always really friendly. They have given me some tips about when to renew the next time, each time. read more

The process is better than last year, but there are so many opportunities for more efficiently handling this whole ordeal. 1) Rather than queueing to get into a queue to get into a queue, let's open up an online preregistration system. Then I can get a printed checklist for what needs to be brought, and I can fill out everything in advance. This leads to number two. 2) Allow you to schedule an appointment online (even if it's only narrowed down by the hour, so be it). This means I don't have to get a number at 9am, come back at 1pm and sit around for 2 more hours. At least they tell you "come back at 1" once you've been assigned a number; that's new this time. 3) Don't require annual renewal. My work permit is for two years.. Make my card valid for the same period. I'm bringing in the same docs as last year, so it's not like you need me here for new fingerprints or photo. 4) Wishlist item: Maybe provide WiFi? It uses less battery than the spotty cell service I have, and it would help make the several hours of sitting more tolerable. 5) Hire extra people. At €300 a pop, the GNIB office is likely cash positive. Getting people through quicker means you could have shorter hours, so you may as well use the extra 4 or 5 booths. GNIB gets two stars because they at least now give you a head's up that you can leave for a few hours, and because the actual interactions with the staff are decent and quick. I seriously can't figure out where the bottleneck even is. I was also admittedly hoping that it wouldn't be the same process on renewals (so far it seems to be, anyway). read more

A little better than I expected... I arrived at 11.30 am and the whole process took about 3 hours. The waiting area is pleasant enough with adequate seating for all (better than the PPSN office for sure!) with water coolers, Sky news on the screen and clean bathrooms. The latter was lit in this weird blue lighting for those who feel compelled enough by the painful waiting process for intravenous intervention. I left €300 poorer, starving and with a sore bum - knowing I'll be back in a year's time (they only issue one year validity for students). TIP: Make sure your number is reached before 1 pm, when it slows down to a excruciating crawl while the public servants take their leisurely 2 hour lunch breaks. read more

It's hard to give a negative review to a government office -it's not like they're out to please customers. My visits to the GNIB office are exercises in patience. There is no rhyme or reason to the queues inside the main hall. Grab a number, take a seat and prepare yourself for a long wait. While I'd recommend showing up early to avoid the queues, most mornings there's a long line of people already waiting outside at 8.30am. Like most public services there's a lucky lotto as to how helpful your case worker will be. Best bet here is to bring as much documentation as possible, right down to Christmas cards and parking receipts. Check out the forms you may possibly need online, make notes of these and ask once you finally get to the desk. Really, you're there to help yourself -due diligence is needed. read more

It went better than I'd expected. I expected the line would be so long I wouldn't be seen that day, and that when I was seen I would be interrogated by a snide, petty ball of hardened resentment, only to be informed that I didn't have x and y papers, come back again. (I'm from America; immigration horror stories are commonplace.) What did happen: I arrived around 9, bringing every little bit of possible paperwork I might possibly need (and a good book). When it came to my turn (the same day; awesome), I was polite & as cheery as I could muster, and the fellow who helped me was the same. It went well, and before I knew it, my much-feared tribulation had been taken care of. Also, I finished my book. It was a good read, and as good of a trip to the GNIB as I could've dared hope for. read more

I need to renew my student visa last year(master degree study), they refuse to renew it and ask me to write a letter to student group(no address no phone line, only have an email address). Anyway I wrote that letter and also go back many times to GNIB, every time they told me it is in the process and I have to be patient! So from October to May, I never get any letter or email from them! Last week I went to see their supervisor, he told me I sent to a wrong E-mail address and I have to resend it again! For God's sake!!!! that email address was given by them and I also got an auto reply email from them said they got my E-mail! For totally eight months they wasted, and force me live in an Illegal residence status!! read more

I would definitely recommend bringing in more paperwork than is requested on their website. Your experience will probably depend entirely on who 'helps' you and how they are feeling about the weather and the economy or their love-life. I was asked (renewal) to show my 3 most recent payslips, a current letter from my employer and a P60 (if it is your first time, you certainly won't need this tax form). In any case, I question that not everyone is asked for the same thing, and why some things are subsequently waived and not others. If it always works out in your favor, great. In my experience, go on a snowy day, midweek, and not after a holiday. Get there before 8, grab a number and read a book or listen to music. I have arrived in the afternoon and flown through, but I've also arrived in the afternoon and all the numbers had been given out. If you are there at 7, you will be seen that day. A sign posted says if you are a student you can't queue until 9am, but this may sync with university term dates. Seek out official information and ask your employer if possible, don't rely solely on yelp. renewals: http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP09000002 read more

Congratulations. This place has single handedly made me despise Ireland (at least for today). The people who work here refuse eye contact as if they're afraid you'll give them eye herpes; the experience altogether dehumanising. Yes, please, go ahead and take my passport, charge me 300 euro, and then keep me waiting another three hours on top of the 7 I've already waited. Am still waiting. Honestly if I hadn't already signed a lease, I'd pack up and forget my Working Holiday plans. Oh, except they still have my passport. Understaffed, under-mannered, and poorly managed. read more

We have recently launched a free website/app to make queuing at GNIB and INIS a little easier. Once you have joined the queue, enter your ticket details to find out how long you'll be waiting. Check out http://www.myq.ie read more

What a cumbersome necessity. Queuing so that you can queue in order to queue yet again, then wait an extra half-hour after the last queue is done. And then a little mini-queue just to top you off before you go. All this for the privilege of paying €150 for a this-is-not-an-identification-card. However, it is a necessary inconvenience if you, as a non-EUer, wanna be legal 'round these parts. I've been here more times than I can count on one hand. The best time I've found to go is midday on a Wednesday. There was a wait time of 20 minutes. I might have just been lucky, though. Some people show up early in the morning and queue for a couple hours to get a number in the hundreds, and are told to come back "after 11" or "after 2." Others get lucky coming in at a quiet time on a quiet day, but risk coming after they stop giving out numbers (around 2pm on an average day). Still others swear by coming in late at night, when the employees are getting impatient to finish before closing time. Let me describe the process. First, if you come in the morning, you show up 2+ hours before opening time to join the queue to receive the first pre-printed numbers of the day, and the giving-out-numbers dude leafs through your documents to make sure you've got a legit claim to the GNIB's time. If you're too late in that queue, they tell you they've already run out of numbers and to come back another day. Now, let's say you come in the afternoon and skip the morning queue. You queue 10-20 minutes to do the same thing as the morning queues-of-hundreds. You receive a number from an official to whom you show your documents and proofs, so they know you're not wasting your time nor theirs by waiting. (Morning-given numbers obviously skip this step.) You then wait anything from 20 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the day, for your number to appear on the "next" screen with a corresponding counter number. You present your case to the employee behind the desk. You pass your papers and passport through the glass drawer, smile - nay, look - at the camera, give 'em your credit card and are told to wait. About half an hour later, they call your horribly mangled name over the loudspeakers, beckoning you to counter number one, where they give you your passport with a new full-page permission stamp and your spangly holographic GNIB card. You're done! Congratulations on your registration! They have a couple of TV screens up to try and make the best of it, and enough chairs for everyone who's waiting. Depending on your attitude, the noise can drive you crazy or you can have fun watching the kids play with their toys and make new friends. As Josh mentioned, the waiting area is clean (discarded newspapers notwithstanding), and the toilets are blacklit to discourage drug use. I've given them an extra star for going the extra mile once when I was there with my boyfriend, mere days after a change in the rules. They went to another floor and found a representative from the relevant department to give us an official answer (which was, of course, we can't help you for another two weeks). Still, it was more courteous than I'd have expected. Another thing is that they're generous with people whose last permissions are a few days or weeks expired, which is more than can be said for other countries. If you like queuing, this is your place! read more

I don't know what the point of reviewing this is, the people who go here legally have to go register here, so they have no choice. This is really the saddest most frustrating experience I have to go through. The only reason this gets a 2 star is because the staff are genuinely nice and try to be helpful. I am unlucky enough to have to register at the peak time of the year, the times when students are flooding Ireland and have to do it too. When I first moved here, they had a rule where students come after 9AM, and people on work permits come before. They removed that rule, making everyone come at the same time. Let's see, I arrived at 6AM on a wednesday. The queue was wrapped around the building on 4 sides. I queued for 5 hours, only to be given a number to wait for, which was 314. I then left and came back a few hours later, and still had to wait for around 100 people. Then I gave my documents, and waited an hour and a half to get my card and then leave. I then came back a few days later, queued from 6AM till about 8.30AM and got yet another number to get my visa, which is the desks right next to the ones for the GNIB card, where I give the exact same documents to get a re-entry visa. I was done around noon. Bring a book, some coffee, definitely bring snacks, make a friend in the line and hold each other's spots for coffee and bathroom breaks. Bring music, and wear a heavy coat even if it is not cold since you'll be queueing outside for hours and you *will* get cold. Do not drink a lot of water the day before, bathroom breaks are hard when you're so close to the door, you might miss your spot. Come early, they run out of numbers pretty fast. read more

Long queues and slow staff. If you don't like waiting you will be truly disappointed.

This is just AWFUL. There has to be a better way. You have to wait outside starting at 6:00 in the morning just to make sure you get a number to be seen that day. Then you waste the entire day waiting for your number. It's a total joke. I can't believe in today's day and age a place or process exists like this. They need an online appointment system and more people. After all, they charge each person €300, so I'm sure they are doing just fine... Wish Yelp would let you give zero stars. read more

I have mixed feelings about this place. I don't have high expectations of government-run bureaucratic agencies. I am from America, so DMV and Passport agency fiascos have not set the bar very high. This place has managed to both exceed my expectations and also make me really angry. Let me start with the bad bits. Last year I showed up around 8am (late September), got in line, got a ticket, was finished in 1.5-2 hours. This year (late September) I showed up, mid-week, at around 8am. The line outside was extending around the building. I didn't bother waiting, which turned out to be the right call. People who got in line at 7:30 ended up being turned away hours later. Although the listed hours state an opening time of 8am, they actually open at 7:30. They pull up the gate, open the door, and herd in a set number of people. After that, they close the gate, until they can let in another group. The next day, I arrived at 5:30. The line was already reaching around the block. It was cold and dark and unpleasant, and I don't enjoy waiting in lines. The good: Once inside, you queue for a ticket (~30 min), then wait for the ticket to be called. This took approx. 45 minutes, or enough time to watch an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles. At the window, I handed over my documentation. I was renewing a Stamp 4, and I'm married to an Irish Citizen. No questions asked, and this took about 5 minutes. At that point, they took my passport and GNIB card, and asked me to sit down until my name was called. After less than half an hour they called my name and I was able to go up and get the new card and my passport with the stamp on it. All in all, the process was fairly quick. They are dealing with a ton of people, so a bit of waiting is to be taken for granted. There doesn't seem to be a lot of screwing around. The bad, again: once I was finished, I couldn't leave. Huh? They pull down the gate after they let people in, and this means that you can't go out until they re-open it.You have to wait *again* to leave the office. This is a pretty serious fire hazard. I can certainly understand the fear of being trampled by the herds of people crowded outside, however, this is when it might be important to remember that these are human beings, not cattle. It can't be easy being a bureaucrat, and some people people have a better mind for it than others. I'm not expecting hand holding or dazzling customer service, but the dehumanization of the process can be a bit off-putting. And more than that, it just comes off as lazy. I see no reason why you couldn't just have someone at the door, monitoring the line and the influx, and providing information to people. Instead, in one of the instances where they had the door open and were ushering people in and out, when questioned with information about wait times, the door "attendant" responded "I'm not a magician." Sitting behind a desk with the door locked is certainly easier than handling these difficult enquiries. Nevertheless, waitress hosts and hostesses have to handle these tricky questions every day! They are the real heroes. That being said, many of the employees were actually quite nice, and managed to handle the interactions with efficiency without being total drones. The last gentleman that I dealt with, who stamped my passport and handed me the card was very kind and personable and told me to enjoy my stay. However, the guys running the door are a different story. I recognize that it is a stressful job, but these guys were rude. They have clearly given up on life and their jobs, and safety has fallen to the wayside. While the doors are closed, they either shout at people to have their documentation ready (TSA-style) or they sit behind a desk and look at cars online (Mazda 6). When questioned about this, they replied, "What else am I supposed to be doing?" and "I'm just following orders." I'm not surprised, but I'm still disappointed. And as a former flight attendant, I would appreciate if someone would point out the nearest available exit, as well as alternate exits. And I would prefer if these were not intentionally obstructed. read more

Where do you begin with this crowd. I have never been more mistreated, like cattle, in my entire life more than today. I arrive at 7:30am to see the longest queue in the history of mankind. It went from the door, around the corner, down the entire street, around the next corner, along the entire back of the 2/3 buildings that make up the block and around the NEXT corner AGAIN! Thousands of people..... Where the hell did they all come from?!?! I am trying to get a simple stamp on my wife's passport and instead I line up all morning, until its bright and warm.... We finally almost 2-3 hours later get to the door to be informed they are handing out no more tickets. I look behind me and the queue just kept growing and growing. They told probably 500 people to go home. I was told on the phone that this was a student rush, so I dont see why I should wait in the line. I am there for something completely different that has little to no processing time. I have to wait and wait for all the slow, mean, rude, unhelpful staff to do their jobs processing all these immigrants and I can't even get one little stamp. I am an Irish citizen and this right that I should have to get this stamp, is being made an absolute nightmare. When I was half way down the line I look in the window, being 2 hours passed the started wait time and they were on number 14..... 14!!!!!!!!!!!!! They handed out about 1000 tickets and they are processing about 1 every 20 minutes. 90% of these people are going to be refused and back in tomorrow's queue. They also used a shutter door to herd in the immigrants and slam people asking questions out, so they didn't have to do their jobs. I have NEVER seen this, we aren't cattle for the slaughter, we are human beings. I try to ask one question and he gives me a smug look, shakes his head and shuts the shutter IN MY FACE!!! He also nearly dropped it on some other guy's head!!! I want these people reviewed for conduct, and a few should already be on the spot fired for their behaviour this morning. If this goes on everyday, where are the guards?!?! They should be arrested for this type of mistreatment. I also went up and down the queue several times, and saw about 5 Irish people. they told me at the top then that they're "out of spouse visa's" which is insanely absurd. It's a stamp on the passport, not a visa, they wouldn't listen, told me to go away. I come back later and instead of answering any questions they point at a sign saying "out of tickets for the day". This place should be shut down, an absolute mistreatment of foreigners and nationals alike. WE ARE PEOPLE NOT CATTLE!!! Hell does exits, and it's down at the Garda National Immigration Bureau.... read more

The Immigration Office is located at 13/14 Burgh Quay. For new comers, you can take a bus to O'Connell Street, get down at Bachelor's Walk, cross the bridge and you can get to this office in 2 mins. I was here to get my GNIB card and Multi-entry visa. Both have their own queues and tickets whick look alike. The first hurdle is to find out the window that issue these tickets. GNIB Card Look for boards - GNIB Q or just ask anybody around (ofcourse not to the employees). The guy at the queue window checks your documents and issues a ticket. The tickets and the respective window which would service you would be displayed. Usually GNIB is done at Windows 2-20. Your documents are checked and you may have to smile for your picture. The damage is 150Euros. They do not accept cash and AmEx. All other credit cards are accepted. Now go back to the waiting area and keep your ears open for your name being called. It is generally noisy and the guy who calls you from Window#1 may not pronounce the way your name should actually sound. So pay attention, go to the Window#1, sign and collect your GNIB card. Reached the office by 8:00AM Left the office with the GNIB card by 9:30AM Mutliple-entry Visa Find the other queue. It should be easy for you now as you would have already spent few hours here. A guy checks your documents(The application form, Passport, GNIB, Photos, Postal-Order) and ONLY if he is satisfied, would he issue a ticket. He rejected my photo I had used for the single-entry visa that has the same specification. I did put it across but then avoided getting into an argument. He would also give you directions to where the photos can be done. Now wait for your turn. The tickets and the respective window which would service you would be displayed. Usually it is done at Windows 21-25. Your documents are checked and you will get your multiple-entry visa pasted on your passport. The damage is 100Euros. They do not accept cash and credit cards. I made my Postal-Order done at a post office the previous day. Reached the office at 8:00AM Left the office with the muliple entry visa by 2:00PM The office is just like any other government office atleast from the country where I'am from. Do not expect anybody to help or guide you. I did come across employees here who are rude + prejudiced. It all depends on whom you get to talk to. Office is ok, waiting area is good though noisy and crowded where you would be spending a good part of your day waiting. read more

Incompetence vs Hypoglycemia? I was granted a 5 year long term residency(LTR) in 2010. My visa was supposed to expire in 4 days time. So it's time for renewing!! Hurray!!! I went to GNIB on Monday(NB please read other reviews, AVOID Monday especially in the morning) and was told by a lady(wish I could catch her name, she's unfriendly blonde and probably in her mid 30s-early 40s) at the service desk to re-apply for another 5 years??? I was there at 7am and finished the whole process at 2.30pm. I didn't realize I have to re apply again for LTR, I mean was she telling the truth? Was she for real or something? However I didn't want to say much because I'm non Irish/non EEA citizen and probably didn't want to be rude or create a scene. I was still granted the visa which was to my horror would last less than 8 weeks and had to pay E300 for it. Imagine having to pay E300 for the bloody less than 8 weeks visa! I wasn't satisfied about it so I rang INIS office and the lady at the end of telephone line gave me an email address. Having checked on http://www.inis.gov.ie regarding LTR renewal as well as emailed inislongtermres@justice.ie they both gave me exactly the same answer : " Renewal of Long Term Residency In order to renew your Long Term Residency it is not necessary to submit a new application. Simply attend at your local Immigration Office to renew your Long Term Residency permission. " Having realized there was a simple mistake I had to rush back to GNIB office before the traffic became bad. This time without a ticket, but managed to speak to somebody at the desk. I didn't say "hello there's been a mistake here or something" in fact I just wanted to see what's going on whether they realized it or not. This lady (again didn't get her name while at the same time I was looking for the first lady, unfortunately she's not there anymore) was friendly, understanding and apologetic even though I didn't ask for an apology. It took me another 45 minutes to get it rectified . I would have given her a 5/5 on a separate sheet honestly!!! Well done you deserve it. I thought each and every one of them behind the desk was competent enough but what can you do when there's always a spoilt clueless rotten apple somewhere out there . Frankly I want to give her the benefit of doubt, may be she (the first lady that I dealt with initially)was hypoglycaemic or something?But hey I've had only a banana and a yogurt drink in that morning to survive the whole ordeal. So all in all it took me almost 12 hours to get the whole thing done and re-done again...(((: read more

I was in the immigration for Spouse GNIB visa stamp 4 this week, I got there 4:30 and was just 5 people in front of me. People starts to arrived at 5:30. The Opening hours says 8, BUT they open 10 minutes before for people starting pick their tickets. So 7:50 they open the doors. IF you are with Spouse for GNIB make sure you are with him or her when you are queuing inside the immigration to avoid embarrassment. I have been here for 5 years and always really liked the service there, in general they really good. But, this time something really upsets me. They print only 200 hundred tickets for GNIB a day, for students visa or spouse visa stamp 4. So, if you get there maximum until 9 you will get the ticket otherwise come back tomorrow. If you get there 6 in the morning you might be able to leave around 10 a.m Hope this can helps. read more

I went up to the office at about 9 am in the morning, Had to queue up for an hour for counter No 14 to get a ticket. Ticket number was 270 out of 300. Was told it will take about 4hr to get seen. So got my ticket at 10 4 hr wait meaning i will be seen by 2 approx. God talk about false hope I only got seen at 8 pm Yes 8 pm - - 10 hrs later no kidding. A few people and myself got talking and no one could come to a conclusion why it was taking so long. There some a good amount of CHI CHAT from the staff behind the counter with each other. A good amount of them checking their phones also. One person waiting with me actually recorded two member of staff talking for over 30 mins I do hope he post the video. I felt so bad for a couple with a young child, their number was 281 after waiting for 12hrs they were told only at 8.30pm to go home and come back the following day. They were actually called at the counter but were told they were not going to be seen. Absolutely inhuman the way people get treated in the place. Staff did not seems to have any consideration or any motivation about what was going on. Was also told when inquiring about what time I might get seem, That this process take the whole day and that just it. It an absolute disgrace the place is how is it acceptable to wait for 10 to 12 hours in one place, no facilities to eat or drink. No even a vending machine. You are afraid to leave just in case it might speed up. They give out 300 ticket a day. Approx 22 people are seen on a hourly basic meaning that from the start there is no way of getting through the amount. The system is absolutely a joke. Some people pay up to 300 a go. Let say 250 pay €300 that €75,000 a day. How is this acceptable because we are foreigners. I do pay the same TAX as the rest of the Irish population, how is a Government service go on operating this manner. read more

Unfortunately, all of the negative reviews of this place are accurate. The treatment that I received from one particular staff member--a heavy set, middle aged woman with reddish-brown shoulder length hair--is unequivocally the worst to which I have had the misfortune to be subjected. Upon noticing my queue number displayed over section 8 or 9 in the registration area, I enquired as to whether or not the woman in question was open; after all, she was acting lazily about as if she were on break. She mumbled something then asked for my documents, so I slid them and my student ID into the receptacle. She took the documents out and threw my ID back into the repository. She didn't slide it. She threw my ID. Now, I knew that our interaction wasn't going to be cordial, so I calmly answered her questions and watched her repeatedly scrutinize all of my official documents as well as my passport. Because she took so much time examining these documents and lazily inputting my data into her computer, I decided to read over my course material. Just when I thought her level of professionalism couldn't descend any further, she vehemently responded: "Are you doing schoolwork now?" "Yes, well ..." "Well, what? This is not the time nor place for you to do that. I mean some people have their priorities skewed!" My passive reading didn't affect her job; her incompetence and lack of professionalism affects her job, but because I needed the GNIB card, I put my things away, kept quiet and watched her slovenly do her job. I love Dublin, but honestly, if I had the choice between being in some third world prison and being at this GNIB location, I will choose the third world prison anytime. At least, there you would most likely get better treatment. read more

If you're ready and interested for a rant, here goes!!! I'm a 19 year old from Canada, and I was given a 2year working holiday visa. I was told by the company that I dealt with that it was best to do it in Dublin because they give you the GNIB card the day of, and don't recommend doing it in cork. - although my address is in cork. (Half of my fault for even listening to these girls) I came on a Friday morning at about 9:00 and the reception sent me to a line where a guy personally gave us all a ticket number. I gave him my documents, he skimmed through them and gave me a ticket number and I was #143. Honestly, I don't mind waiting especially for something important..but here's the part that furiates me. At this point I've waited three and a half hours to FINALLY have my name called. I'm going to refrain on swearing on here. I said hello! To the guy and he did not even give me any eye contact and he looked absolutely miserable. He was about to do my paperwork, looked at my address and said the words "your address is in cork, so that's where you register." Pushed the paperwork back to me and just sat there and said bye. LIKE WHAT?? I understand you've had a long day, but so have I waiting for you to speak to me and he was so so so so rude. So basically I wasted three and a half hours of my life to get rejected in less than a minute. I honestly hope to never step foot in that place again. Wish I could give it 0 starts. read more