So no one who has to go here is ever in a particularly good mood. I mean, who gets excited about…read morehaving 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.

GNIB Update: I returned to GNIB around 9:45am on a Friday just before a holiday weekend and they…read moreran 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!