Hello all! As I’ve just gotten onto the right sleep schedule, I’m ripe and ready to crank out the blog posts on all I’ve learned in the past few days. One topic being the dreaded GNIB or Garda National Immigration Bureau. When you receive your Working Holiday Authorization, it informs you that you have to register with the GNIB within 90 days of entrance by going to their office in Dublin, which is over by the Liffey. Once you do this, you’ll be given a GNIB card, which is necessary to have as a form of proof of ability to work. What they don’t tell you is that this process is by no means as easy as it sounds.

First of all, the GNIB is only open Mondays and Tuesdays from 8am-9pm. While this time period seems long, you have to get there VERY EARLY in order to be seen. Each day, they give out a certain amount of appointment numbers and if you arrive too late, you may not be able to get a slot.

While the office opens at 8am, it is extremely important you get there early to procure a spot in line. I would suggest arriving at 6am or earlier if you want to get in and out before they close. I know this sounds absurd, but people sleep overnight to get spots, and many arrive between 5am-6am.

I personally arrived at about 5:45am, and ended up with the appointment number 95, which was lucky as I saw others who got numbers in the 200s.

When the GNIB opens, they’ll slowly start letting people inside. You’ll queue up in order to get your appointment number, and once you have this, you sit and wait until the screen flashes your number. This can take a very long time. I was in the door at 8:10am and was in the second group of people they let in, and I wasn’t seen until around 12:30pm.

Once your number is called, you will walk up and speak to a representative. Make sure you have…

• Your passport
• Your Working Holiday Authorization
• An Irish address and phone number for them to have on file
• A credit card/debit card to pay the €300 fee

From there they’ll have you pay the fee and take your picture for your GNIB card (which looks just like any sort of identification card). They’ll hold on to your passport while you go back to the waiting room.

At this point in the process you’ll have to wait until they call your name over the loudspeaker. It is good to sit in the far corner of the room during this process (over by the entrance to the bathroom) because the speaker is the best there and it’s easier to hear your name called. It took about 2 hours for this to happen in my case, with them presenting me with the card (and returning my passport) at about 2:30pm.

All in all, I spent 9 hours at the GNIB in order to fully complete the process. You are allowed to leave while everything is processing, however if you miss your appointment that would be on your head. I was personally too nervous to leave during my time, but a very kind friend brought me coffee, which was a relief. Definitely bring a book, your iPod or a laptop to use, because the waiting is basically like the DMV on crack.

So, in conclusion, the GNIB is like the 9th circle of hell, but once you do it you’ll be home free (JUST DON’T LOOSE YOUR CARD!!). So when it comes to the Immigration office, may the odds be ever in your favor…

**Side note – Avoid the bathroom at all costs as it is terrifying. The whole thing is lit up blue with a strobing light overhead in order to apparently keep people from shooting up (?????!!!!). Excuse me while I continue to have stress nightmares about peeing there.

***Second side note – I went on the 4th of July and never have I enjoyed the concept of freedom better than when I walked out of the GNIB doors, I literally almost kissed the dirty pee-stained sidewalk (I didn’t though, for the sake of dental hygiene).