for a government building and a bureaucracy, it's amazingly efficient. I suppose it helps if you're a US citizen but as far as the system goes, it's quite straightforward.
i went in to get pages added to my passport to make room for all the dozens of those damn irish green stamps they insist on putting in there every time i leave and come back. grrr. stop it, Garda!
i was told by a friend that all it takes is to walk in there, ask for extra pages and they give them to you in a matter of hours. to be safe, i checked their web site and found out i was required to make an appointment to do this now. with impending travel a mere days away, i was in a bit of a panic when i found this out. but happily, i was able to get an appointment for a reasonable time and date.
i showed up on the day, waltzed up to the front of the sad Q of non americans waiting in the icky weather and waved my passport at them thru the window. they gestured for me to wait a sec and then they let me in. they stripped me of all my electronics and even weird things like lip balm and sent me thru the metal detector. luckily, they didn't ask me to remove any piercings. sheesh.
i got in there and once my number was called, i went up and handed them the requisite form (downloaded and filled out from their web site) with my passport. the nice lady informed me that they now had a new policy wherein they needed to do some sort of name checking and that it might take a few days to get my passport done. at which point i put on panicked sad face and asked "reeaaly?" :( :( "i have to travel in a few days and i can't really wait. maybe i should come back..." she very understandingly told me she'd do a quick check and if nothing came up, she'd go ahead and take care of it today. "please have a seat, miss."
so i took a seat and nervously fiddled with my fingernails for about 15 minutes, having no iDevice to play with. eventually, they called my name. i went up to the window fully expecting either bad news or to be told to wait longer. no! they handed me my passport with the extra pages taped in, said thanks and waved goodbye!
i was literally there and out in less than 40 minutes. i think that might be a world record for bureaucracy. well done American Embassy! read more