Dublin Airport Immigration Control Section

Fratton Fred

FoldedShirt wrote: »

That's true, which makes me wonder why checks are so few on the UK side. I guess UK immigration assumes that anyone with an "undesirable" passport coming from Ireland would have most likely had to pass through the UK on their way to Ireland in the first place.

The Common Travel Area is a lazy, half-assed agreement that needs to be overhauled. What would be wrong with a Schengen-style immigration union between Ireland and the UK? The UK will never join Schengen, but surely a more formal arrangement between the two countries would be both practical and politically acceptable.

The CTA assumes that ireland and the UK are one country as far as work, travel etc is concerned, it is way beyond anything the EU has in place. That is why at Heathrow flights from Dublin use the same exits as the ones from Manchester, Aberdeen etc.

I find arriving on Pier B to be quite good. I have had a few problems arriving from Pier D, but never as bad as the OP has witnessed.

A tip for getting through Immigration easier at Dublin, don't follow anyone who has slightly dark skin, the GNIB seem to question them for ages, even if they have come in from a london flight. it is embarrassing at times.

Bluetonic

Today FM now covering this at the moment, Matt Cooper.

Sesshoumaru

Nice to see other people have shared this experience. I came back from Hong Kong last month and was extremely angry at the amount of time it was taking to get through the GNIB checkpoint. My daughter is quite young and I wanted to get her home after such a long journey. Just reminds you what a joke this country of ours is.

Tarabuses

FoldedShirt wrote: »

That's true, which makes me wonder why checks are so few on the UK side. I guess UK immigration assumes that anyone with an "undesirable" passport coming from Ireland would have most likely had to pass through the UK on their way to Ireland in the first place.

The Common Travel Area is a lazy, half-assed agreement that needs to be overhauled. What would be wrong with a Schengen-style immigration union between Ireland and the UK? The UK will never join Schengen, but surely a more formal arrangement between the two countries would be both practical and politically acceptable.

I thought the Common Travel Area was to be dismantled soon?

brettmirl

Tarabuses wrote: »

I thought the Common Travel Area was to be dismantled soon?

It is.

They are just waiting for the right size allen keys and then it's being put into storage with the e-voting machines.

Carawaystick

I suppose you could complain to the garda ombudsman commission - make sure to ask the Garda for their name and station, while they delay you and make sure you are traveling from Cork or Galway, and dont bring your passport, use other ID.

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ixoy

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Shambolic stuff last night.

Got off my plane at 22.50 to be faced with a queue of maybe 800 people in a long corridor all waiting to get through the Garda immigration control area.

It took 55 minutes from getting off the plane to actually get out of the airport (that with only hand luggage).
Thankfully it was a short flight - god bless older people, those with kids and those getting off a 10 hour flight as it must be an impossible ordeal.
I've travelled to about 40 countries in my time and never experienced anything like it.

Complained to a DAA guy and got a shrugged shoulder and a 'blame the gardai' comment.

Just a warning for anyone arranging pickups from the airport.

FYI, your post got quoted in a Sunday Times article today! The article related to an unofficial dispute whereby Gardai aren't getting meal allowances for work outside stations (poor diddums) and are slowing down processes like these as part of a protest action.

The article in full is on their site ([link).

ArmaniJeanss

Wow, great spot.

MOH

Came through about 9pm on Saturday night, seemed to be back to the usual quick glance at the passport, no queues.

holdmyhand?

in all fairness, would ya perfer there was no queues, no once checking, anyone just walking straight in to the country? i myslef have been waiting up to an hour in a few airports, but as frustrated and tiring as it is, its the way it has to be. They are obvo under staffed and I'm sure if you asked them, they would totally agree what a farce it is.

steve-o

holdmyhand? wrote: »

its the way it has to be

God help us. Where else would thousands of people be held up just because a small bunch of police are complaining about their lunch allowance?

dfx-

spurious wrote: »

The "jump up as the plane hits the runway, push your way out in a frenzy, charge to the baggage hall as if any of it makes things happen quicker" brigade must have been apoplectic. Haha.

:pac:

Never noticed really any queues in Dublin Airport compared to some others I've been through

slimjimmc

FoldedShirt wrote: »

These queues are particularly annoying when you arrive from the UK. Legally, passport control shouldn't apply for those flights. In Heathrow you just walk straight into the arrivals hall, in Stansted you just present your boarding card and walk through.

Afaik there's no reason why passpoprt control should be removed for CTA flights. Passport Control only uses your passport to determine your right to enter the country under the CTA or EU agreements.

holdmyhand? wrote: »

in all fairness, would ya perfer there was no queues, no once checking, anyone just walking straight in to the country? i myslef have been waiting up to an hour in a few airports, but as frustrated and tiring as it is, its the way it has to be. They are obvo under staffed and I'm sure if you asked them, they would totally agree what a farce it is.

Ah the good old days when illegals could get in without the inconvenience of getting a fake passport :rolleyes:. I sure hope we don't go back to that, it was scandalous the way our borders were left wide open and relying on other countries security. "Ah sure who'd want to come here" and "sure if the Columbians allowed him fly he can't be bad"

I would consider passport control at Dublin mild compared to some other airports; Frankfurt, Bangkok, Sydney held me up longer because they done more thorough checks. Never had my passport scanned nor have those desktop facial recognition cams in Dub.

lord lucan

MOH wrote: »

Came through about 9pm on Saturday night, seemed to be back to the usual quick glance at the passport, no queues.

'twas the same last night,i came through about 22.15 and cleared it in about 2 minutes,no ques.

trellheim

you don't need a passport to travel in the CTA

Victor

slimjimmc wrote: »

Never had my passport scanned nor have those desktop facial recognition cams in Dub.

You would be surprised.

bearded1

Tonight (Saturday) landed 22:20 from the UK, corralled into huge queue with only 3 EU, one non EU desks open. Hundreds queueing, kids crying, old people struggling to stay on their feet... Absolutely ridiculous, didn't get out till after 23:00.

Of the Three EU desks open, one had a uniformed Garda who was taking a long look at passports, while also trying to get his air conditioning unit to work. One lady in civvies realised the gravity of the situation and opted for quick look at photo and person. Third guy in civvies was incredibly slow, and started asking me about the football, meanwhile hundreds continued to queue. Shambles. :mad:

On the other hand when my flight INTO the UK landed the staff at the airport merely re-route passengers from flights out of Ireland away from passport control so there was no wait/check. Why can't the DAA/GNIB/whoever do the same thing?

alpha2zulu

Arrived in last night (Saturday)at 23:30 and felt something was up earlier. A slightly frazzled looking daa suit was asking 2 of the pink shirts about the 'situation now'. We were one of the last flights due in last night so at that stage there was only about 15/20 people in each queue.Looked like about 6/7 immigrationers on duty at that stage.

Everybodys passport however was getting a proper look as opposed to the usual wave through when they see a harp passport. Wheather this is because of new directives from above, or related to last months dinner allowance dispute is another question.:rolleyes:

At this time of year most aircraft would be flying with plenty of empty seats, so if these problems continue to the February mid term school break/Easter holidays the delays are gonna be even worse.

invincibleirish

I also came in last night around 22.30, to experience this, Absolutely shambolic stuff from the Garda. Are they still on a go slow or are they just actually unable to provide the necessary staff?

NaasMan

bearded1 wrote: »

Tonight (Saturday) landed 22:20 from the UK, corralled into huge queue with only 3 EU, one non EU desks open. Hundreds queueing, kids crying, old people struggling to stay on their feet... Absolutely ridiculous, didn't get out till after 23:00.

Of the Three EU desks open, one had a uniformed Garda who was taking a long look at passports, while also trying to get his air conditioning unit to work. One lady in civvies realised the gravity of the situation and opted for quick look at photo and person. Third guy in civvies was incredibly slow, and started asking me about the football, meanwhile hundreds continued to queue. Shambles. :mad:

On the other hand when my flight INTO the UK landed the staff at the airport merely re-route passengers from flights out of Ireland away from passport control so there was no wait/check. Why can't the DAA/GNIB/whoever do the same thing?

Only two EU desks open last night, the queue was made again. Is this all still about the allowances that were cut or are they just not roistering staff to cover evenings due to budget cut backs ?

Red Sleeping Beauty

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

It is a pain in the arse alright, flew in from Glasgow at the start of December and queued for 20 minutes to get through immigration

A few nights ago I came in from Glasgow and it took about a half hour to get to a desk. In comparisson with arriving at Glasgow airport it's nonsense. Dublin Airport should really have a seperate Domestic and UK arrivals section or some way of allowing such passengers to bypass immigration .

Seems like perhaps poor planning between DAA , Airlines and the GNIB especially with zero consideration given to the CTA.

Madness that even if you're flying within Ireland you've to queue up at immigration with everyone else :mad:

Arriving at any "D" gate is horrendous... you've to queue up along a corridor to wait to be allowed (about 20 at a time) down a stairs and into the queue for immigration checks.

GerardKeating

trellheim wrote: »

you don't need a passport to travel in the CTA

Only applies to Ireland & UK citizens, other EU nationals require a passport.

So they might ask you to prove you do not need a passport..

joolsveer

GerardKeating wrote: »

Only applies to Ireland & UK citizens, other EU nationals require a passport.

So they might ask you to prove you do not need a passport..

I don't think you are correct. EU citizens only need their national ID cards.

Rawr

Alan Rouge wrote: »

A few nights ago I came in from Glasgow and it took about a half hour to get to a desk. In comparisson with arriving at Glasgow airport it's nonsense. Dublin Airport should really have a seperate Domestic and UK arrivals section or some way of allowing such passengers to bypass immigration .

Seems like perhaps poor planning between DAA , Airlines and the GNIB especially with zero consideration given to the CTA.

Madness that even if you're flying within Ireland you've to queue up at immigration with everyone else :mad:

Arriving at any "D" gate is horrendous... you've to queue up along a corridor to wait to be allowed (about 20 at a time) down a stairs and into the queue for immigration checks.

Sweet Jebus, is that still happening?!

I'm an ex-pat and I'll be flying back home for Easter this week. Also I'll be showing my girlfriend Ireland for the first time, and I'd hate to think that the first thing she'll see of it, is a nasty queue to get out of D pier.

What has happened? There never seemed to be a problem before. Right up to when I came back for last Christmas, getting out of Dublin Airport seemed to be a simple and fairly fast affair.

G_R

EDIT: ignore post

Heineken Helen

In fairness (and I'm NEVER one to give the gardai any credit) until the go-slow Dublin was always one of the quickest and most pleasant airports to go through. I wouldn't support them for a 29euro a day meal allowance :eek:but I do support them standing up to the powers that be and proving they're human like the rest of us:p . Also, and I could well be wrong here, I'm pretty sure there was more to it than the meal allowance... I think they were no longer going to be paid for overtime or it was going to be cut or something. Again though, I don't know that and I'll have to check for links. But here's one for the meal allowance go slow.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5489282.ece

Red Sleeping Beauty

Rawr wrote: »

Sweet Jebus, is that still happening?!

I'm an ex-pat and I'll be flying back home for Easter this week. Also I'll be showing my girlfriend Ireland for the first time, and I'd hate to think that the first thing she'll see of it, is a nasty queue to get out of D pier.

What has happened? There never seemed to be a problem before. Right up to when I came back for last Christmas, getting out of Dublin Airport seemed to be a simple and fairly fast affair.

Yes, it's still happening so prepare for a long wait. especially if you're arriving at a D gate. There's absolutely nothing you can do. The DAA staff only direct the queue and if you even attempt to give the Guards any hassle or complaints you can bet you're wait will be longer :rolleyes:

The problem is that the immigration section is tiny and you've hundreds of people queing for at least 30mins (in all of my travel in the last year this has been the case )
to get through to about 4 manned (or womaned) booths out of I think 8 or 10. Some of the Guards are checking through the passports fully and asking questions (even if you're only coming from the UK) .

As I said, there should be a seperate arrivals for domestic/UK arrivals but there's not.

Heineken Helen wrote: »

In fairness (and I'm NEVER one to give the gardai any credit) until the go-slow Dublin was always one of the quickest and most pleasant airports to go through. [/url]

It's not just that "go slow" cold protest that is holding up the immigration sections, it's that all UK and domestic arrivals (ie, inland ffs! ie you have not left the country!) are huddled into the one area which is utter madness.

There's various reports (via posts here or on other forums) that on some days you'll breeze past the immigration in a few minutes but there's more posts about delays.

Sorry for the ranting but it's a pi$$ poor situation I think.

Fratton Fred

My flight gets in at about 7:50 on a friday and the last few weeks there has been no queue whatsoever. that is arriving at Pier B though.

Going the other way though...This morning at 6am was the worst I have evr seen dublin airport, you could hardly get in the front door at departures.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Fratton Fred wrote: »

My flight gets in at about 7:50 on a friday and the last few weeks there has been no queue whatsoever. that is arriving at Pier B though.

Going the other way though...This morning at 6am was the worst I have evr seen dublin airport, you could hardly get in the front door at departures.

I think A&B come through the same door into the Immigration hall don't they ?

The departures/security screening is a different problem in a different area. This immigration problem is between the DAA and GNIB I think. At least it is regarding the CTA. There's a few threads on politics.ie on the issue.

Rawr

Thanks Alan for the heads up. I'm going to try and mentally prepare the GF for arse-wise mess of things, that the powers-that-be in Ireland can make.

I was hoping that she'd be spared of that until at least we got out the Departure exit

I don't imagine that Pier B would suffer the same problems as D, Fred. Pier D appears to be designed, to be the corral in which to herd those of us who choose Ryanair. Therefore, probably tonnes more people in and out of D.

Whenever I could afford it, or the prices weren't too bad, I'd take SAS back to Ireland. One advantage being, that I'd get to use Pier B both ways. But since T2 construction began, SAS (and a few others) now go to Pier D, probably making things worse, capacity wise.

Jebus, I hate Pier D.