I have FINALLY finished immigration! It was a process and a half trying to get in and out of the Garda(police station) and through the line. On day 1 I entered the Garda station at approximately 2:00pm. I sported a cute hair style and outfit to ensure a nice immigration card photo.
Little did I know I wouldn't be taking this super cute photo any time soon. Now, at the DMV in the US you can tell by the outside when it is going to be bad, but here at the Garda station the calmness on the outside is quite deceiving. I entered with all my proper documents:
Passport,
Letter of Acceptance,
Proof of US Address,
Proof of Irish Address,
Bank Of Ireland Card,
Bank Of Ireland Statement,
my finger ready for fingerprints,
and my best smile.
Having all my ducks in a row didn't help me one bit at the Garda station. We sat in line from 2:00pm to 4:30pm, at which point I was two people away from the little window. The worst part of this story is that the ladies working the little windows didn't even have the decency to announce we are closing in ten minutes, or to stop letting people in. At 4:26pm, 4 minutes early I might add, they simply closed their windows and that was that. As one can imagine I was not a happy camper and I was NOT looking forward to round 2.
Round 2: The following day I woke up bright and early and headed to the Garda station once again. I should also add two important factors. 1: The Garda station is a good 25 minute walk away from my house. 2. The Garda hours are as follows: 9:30-12 and 2:00-4:30 Mon-Thurs. Yup, these folks only work 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. So I woke up and headed to the Garda station, but this time I wasn't cute and perky, but rather sleepy and annoyed. I arrived at 9:30am and I officially made it to the window at 11:45! I didn't have any issues once I got to the window, I still had all my ducks in a row the next day, and immigration was successful. Ireland officially has my fingerprints, so I guess I better be on my best behavior. ;) After spending 4.5 hours in that line, my friends and I were all out of smiles. During our hours and hours of line time we collaborated and decided on our best faces for the our immigration card photos...
Passport,
Letter of Acceptance,
Proof of US Address,
Proof of Irish Address,
Bank Of Ireland Card,
Bank Of Ireland Statement,
my finger ready for fingerprints,
and my best smile.
Having all my ducks in a row didn't help me one bit at the Garda station. We sat in line from 2:00pm to 4:30pm, at which point I was two people away from the little window. The worst part of this story is that the ladies working the little windows didn't even have the decency to announce we are closing in ten minutes, or to stop letting people in. At 4:26pm, 4 minutes early I might add, they simply closed their windows and that was that. As one can imagine I was not a happy camper and I was NOT looking forward to round 2.
Round 2: The following day I woke up bright and early and headed to the Garda station once again. I should also add two important factors. 1: The Garda station is a good 25 minute walk away from my house. 2. The Garda hours are as follows: 9:30-12 and 2:00-4:30 Mon-Thurs. Yup, these folks only work 5 hours a day, 4 days a week. So I woke up and headed to the Garda station, but this time I wasn't cute and perky, but rather sleepy and annoyed. I arrived at 9:30am and I officially made it to the window at 11:45! I didn't have any issues once I got to the window, I still had all my ducks in a row the next day, and immigration was successful. Ireland officially has my fingerprints, so I guess I better be on my best behavior. ;) After spending 4.5 hours in that line, my friends and I were all out of smiles. During our hours and hours of line time we collaborated and decided on our best faces for the our immigration card photos...
Mugshots it was... =P
In conclusion, if any of you are headed to the DMV anytime soon you should be very thankful to the staff for working more than 5 hours a day and for at least helping the people who are in the building before closing time. There really is a place worse than the DMV, and I found it. =)
CHEERS!!
Fingers crossed those 2 trips are your only Garda encounters of your trip! :)
ReplyDelete