Difficulty booking an appointment with INIS

Hi guys,
I'll like to go straight to the point. I got my stamp 4 letter from the DOJ on the 2nd of December last year, and in the letter, I was directed to book an appointment online with INIS for my registration. From that 2nd of December till now, I must have tried a thousand times to book this appointment but after filling in my details each time, I get the response that "No appointment is currently available".

My questions are: Is this normal? Is anyone encountering the same problem or is it just me?
Since I can't book the appointment online, can I walk in to their office to book the appointment?

Advice and suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Keep trying especially around 1pm. You can install an app on your phone that alerts you immediately as soon as an appointments becomes available.

kupuser wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:39 am

Keep trying especially around 1pm. You can install an app on your phone that alerts you immediately as soon as an appointments becomes available.

Cheers buddy. Didn't know getting an appointment with INIS is such a big issue. I would have waited from now till next next December without securing an appointment if you hadn't informed me. Have downloaded the app now, hopefully I'll be able to get one soon.

I thought the time is 9am for new appointments (mostly 10 weeks from now), and 2.30pm for any additional slots for the next few days. I might be wrong though.

It’s nearly impossible to get one without paying a fortune to some random third-party extortion apps.

There is an article on this on Irish Times last month detailing the difficulties and the extortionate money that third parties charge you to book an appointment.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... 4?mode=amp

littlerr wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:43 pm

I thought the time is 9am for new appointments (mostly 10 weeks from now), and 2.30pm for any additional slots for the next few days. I might be wrong though.

It’s nearly impossible to get one without paying a fortune to some random third-party extortion apps.

I even remember getting alerts of free appointments as early as 2-3 am

kupuser wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2020 2:54 pm

littlerr wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:43 pm

I thought the time is 9am for new appointments (mostly 10 weeks from now), and 2.30pm for any additional slots for the next few days. I might be wrong though.

It’s nearly impossible to get one without paying a fortune to some random third-party extortion apps.

I even remember getting alerts of free appointments as early as 2-3 am

Any cancellations will show up immediately.

The problem with the current appointment system is that third-party tools can query its availability all the time without any restriction. So at the same second an appointment slot is released, a third-party tool will be able to know about it and take the appointment, making it increasingly difficult for other people to book the appointment by themselves.

I remember back in the day that we had to queue overnight to get a ticket, but even that is still much better than having to look around on their website for weeks to get an appointment.

The easiest way is if you have someone outside Dublin just add your name to one of the bills or change your bank account to their address, you can easily ring up the local Gardai and book an appointment mostly within 2 days and you get your card in 5 weeks. that's how I did mine didn't bother with the app.

That is certainly not a good idea if you ever want to apply for naturalisation.

After more than a month of trying, I finally got to book an appointment, even though I did that through one of those racketeers mentioned in the news article posted above, but not before we had a bit of a falling out.

So I did a little Google search and found the guy who claims he can book you an appointment within 3 days. Chatted him up about booking an appointment for me, he said his regular price was 20 euro. 30€ if you want it within 5 weeks, then 40 if you want it on a specific day. He also mentioned that you can still keep trying on your own while they're trying for you and if you eventually get lucky and get an appointment by yourself, you then tell them to stop trying and don't have to pay them anything again.

Just after chatting with this guy, I logged on to INIS website and lo and behold, there were about 3 appointment flashing green, so I quickly booked one, which was on the 29th of February. I couldn't believe my luck, after all these days.

So I quickly got back to this booking guy and told him not bother again that I've been able to book one by myself and he said no problem and thanked me for informing him on time.

About 30 minutes later, I checked back at INIS website and there again blinking green was another appointment just 2 weeks away, tried to book it and was told that I would have to cancel my already made appointment before booking another. So I cancelled my earlier appointment, checked back again about 2 hours later, and there was another appointment there, this time, 3 weeks away. I just couldn't believe my lucky star. Then I quickly filled in my details and click on "confirm appointment", and was surprised to read that I can't book the appointment as I already have an existing appointment. As I was scowling at my screen wondering what was going on, I got a message from the booking guy telling me congratulations, I have been booked for an appointment in 4 weeks. So I was like "Dude, I told you not to bother again. Why did you go ahead to book an appointment for me? Well, I'll pay you €20 for your troubles instead of the 30 we originally agreed on". And he said his fee was 30 or he would cancel it, and he kinda meant it.

As I had cancelled my earlier appointment, I don't want to have another cancelled in my name in one day, as that might harm my chances of getting another appointment, so I had no other option than to pay him the 30, but not before I gave him a piece of my mind.