Post
by nahmed » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:14 pm
Hi Guys,
As informed before, I went to GNIB Dublin to get my mum's card on Friday. The queue is quite long however, they are processing it quite quickly. I got there for 4:30am and was about #60 in the queue. The activities start around 7:15 when the guys came to straighten up the queues and they finally start letting people in around 7:45. The queue then splits up between GNIB card and re-entry visas so I ended up getting token # 34. The numbers start going quite fast as compared to our last encounter around 7 months back and we were called nearly around 9 o clock.
We got to the desk, I presented the officer with the INIS letter, both our passports and my mums existing GNIB card. He checks everything through on the system. He kept her passport and GNIB card & returns the rest back. Goes all fine, please wait for the card so we sat back. So far so good till now.
Around 45 mins later announcements start happening with names to collect card/passport from counter 1. We went when her name was called. There was this Irish Lady Officer probably in her 50s at the counter. She seemed quite pissed off, I think she is one of the senior officers there. I said hello and she starts bombarding me with questions and comments which I didn't expect . Says to me are you gonna go back now, I said I am not decided yet. I am in contract at work and also at the house I am renting. She then goes how long have you been living in the UK, I said around 14 years. She says why didnt you just apply for her in the UK, I said they have virtually closed it for elderly relatives and in the last 4 years there has only been 1 reported successful applicant. She then starts moaning that this is too much for us and we are clamping down on all this now you know and kept on going blah blah. I kept quiet ignoring to get into conversation about it. She then says you know this card is only valid in Ireland, you cant be using this to live anywhere else in europe. I said Yes, I know. She then says if you leave Ireland to go back to UK, you have to re-apply there and I am gonna keep an eye on it and you cant be using this card if you go back etc etc. I said Yes, I know. She then started to note down my mums EUTR reference. She finishes and absolutely gutted puts the card and passport in the tray for us to pick up. I took them. She then suddenly asks if my mom can speak English? I thot if I say yes she may start speaking to her so I said No, she cant. She then rather evilly raised her eyebrows & commented what good can she be for the Irish society. I got fuming but didn't bother responding to her. You could tell she is absolutely gutted at passing us the docs and would have stopped it somehow if it was in her hands. I just said are we good to go? She looks plainly at me. I took my mum out from the counter and left. So this was my 1st bad experience yet living in Ireland since December last year. Anyways, had the GNIB card issued up to her passport expiry date now, although the last encounter wasn't very pleasant.
In UK now to collate all the paperwork for the review.
