How long does the POE normally take?

[Mark_Tammy2014 0]

I'm a little concerned about the POE interview, does anyone know how long it takes?

[Gail83 21]

It depends on how busy they are at the airport. I waited in immigrant processing for 3 hours but my actual contact time with a CBP officer was about 5 minutes after the 3 hour wait. They called me to the window, stamped my paperwork and passport and reminded me to get married within 90 days.

[Vanitas 310]

I'm a little concerned about the POE interview, does anyone know how long it takes?

How long is a piece of string?

It depends on various factors. Which airport is the POE? Is the flight you're on busy? Are any flights arriving at the same time as you?

Personally, I was done within about an hour to an hour-half from getting in a queue to leaving secondary. But I left about 5 hours between my LHR-Newark flight and my Newark-Providence flight just to play it safe.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Wheatley

[Darnell 8,479]

depends on staffing at the POE and the queues, size of.

There were 5 flights land within 20 minutes of each other, and only 2 humans at CBP handling immigration stuff.

My wife's slog was about 4.5 hours that day, for Houston.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Check the POE reviews (see main menu above on desktop view). It's not really an interview - just handing over of your docs. Some airports do so in secondary, so that tends to take a bit longer.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Houston-- seems like a 3 mile walk to immigration hall. Then about 10 minutes in immigration line and 15 minutes in secondary room. Then trek from baggage claim through customs and out the door. So even the same airport can vary since Darnell had 4.5 hours.

They don't really "interview" you. They shuffle papers and stamp your visa and such. The wait for that part is depending on how many people happen to need visa processing that arrived when you did. Will you be the only one or will there be 20 others who hit the airport around the same time? How long is a piece of string, as was said by Wheatley.

[Natonstan 129]

I'm a little concerned about the POE interview, does anyone know how long it takes?

Hey guys, I purposely made sure I got a flight with long layover since there's no real answer, my flight has a 5 hour 50 minute layover in Newark before heading to Dallas, I remembered all the times I had a 2 hour layover and I'd come off the plane to find someone with a sign with my name on it to rush me through customs because my connection was about to leave, I never trust flight times!

[scottym27 19]

How did you get that luxury Stan?! I just got left at Houston. They didn't even want to put me on the next flight...

[Natonstan 129]

How did you get that luxury Stan?! I just got left at Houston. They didn't even want to put me on the next flight...

Well I looked at Manchester and Heathrow and nowhere could I find a decent layover, so just randomly I thought i'd try Birmingham and there it was! Never flown from Birmingham before but it's only about an hour away.

[scottym27 19]

Well I looked at Manchester and Heathrow and nowhere could I find a decent layover, so just randomly I thought i'd try Birmingham and there it was! Never flown from Birmingham before but it's only about an hour away.

Ah no, I was meaning how you got someone to get you to the front at customs. At Houston I missed my flight as a result of customs, nothing of the sort for me!!

[Natonstan 129]

Ah no, I was meaning how you got someone to get you to the front at customs. At Houston I missed my flight as a result of customs, nothing of the sort for me!!

Oh! This has happened twice to one, once at Chicago and once when I was flying from Newark back to Manchester, basically when I came through the walkway off the plane there was someone stood there with names on a board (I remember in Chicago, they were on a wall) and I noticed my name and I got handed an orange slip which let me skip the queues!

[Vanitas 310]

Oh! This has happened twice to one, once at Chicago and once when I was flying from Newark back to Manchester, basically when I came through the walkway off the plane there was someone stood there with names on a board (I remember in Chicago, they were on a wall) and I noticed my name and I got handed an orange slip which let me skip the queues!

Ah, now at Newark they were directed to a specific line that was usually reserved for Diplomats and Officials, and they tended to get waved through. Not sure about the actual Customs part though, probably something similar.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

How did you get that luxury Stan?! I just got left at Houston. They didn't even want to put me on the next flight...

Which airline was that with? A girl I met on a flight to Newark didn't leave enough time between connections, so they just booked her on to the next flight (my flight!) to Cleveland, no hassle, no stress, no extra charge.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I've noticed in Houston when the Continental plane (pre-United) was late arriving, the airline employees in red blazers were actively working to assist those with Continental connecting flights. They had clipboards and were calling names and taking them off the plane first. But I guess if it wasn't the airline's fault/delay, they don't try to find you in immigration, Starbucks or wherever.

[scottym27 19]

Which airline was that with? A girl I met on a flight to Newark didn't leave enough time between connections, so they just booked her on to the next flight (my flight!) to Cleveland, no hassle, no stress, no extra charge.

United. They booked me on a flight the following MORNING (this was at 3pm in the afternoon, with at least 3-4 flights to follow that day), despite having seats available on the next flights. They didn't give me any information, or anything at all. It took some world class kicking off from J to get me there that evening. But the complete lack of customer care that day left me vowing to never fly with them again.

(And I haven't!)