Garda National Immigration Bureau

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 … ;)
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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!

A place where I don’t want to spend a lot of time at… and nether do you!

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.

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.

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

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.

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 Unilocal.
renewals:

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.

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!

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.

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…

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.

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.