George Bush Intercontinental Airport at Houston POE

[riz 0]

My wife's POE would be Houston, TX (George Bush Intercontinental Airport). The final destination would be Tampa, FL.

Could any one tell me how much time would be consider enough for immigration process at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston?

Thanks

[riz 0]

Sorry, I meant safe not saved

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

At this time of year, it's not nearly as crowded in the immigration hall. Summer afternoons have so many planes landing from Mexico and the Bahamas that it's packed with people. I think two hours would give you enough time. Here's the procedure at Bush:

Exit plane and walk a long, long way down corridors. You can't get lost because everybody is rushing to the same destination so just follow the crowd. Go down set of escalators (there's 3 side by side I think).

Eventually you will see the immigration hall that looks like a big open gymnasium with the immigration checking desks lined across the middle, splitting it into two halves. US residents go to one side and visitors (your wife) go line up on the other side. She will present her passport at the counter and the I-94 card filled out on the plane and say "I'm entering on a K3 visa." They will call somebody to escort her to a room just at the end of the immigration counters. She wll wait until somebody calls her up to process her brown envelope of information. It probably won't take more than 20 minutes. That can vary depending on how many other immigrants arrive the same time. They are very nice there.

When she leaves the room, there are escalators to the right that go downstairs to baggage claim. Go down and make a U-turn at the bottom and she will see the baggage carousels. Her bags should be out by the time she's there because of her wait to process her papers.

She gets her luggage, then follows all the other people who line up to pass by the customs folks. Those are just podiums in the middle of a wide corridor area. You get out your customs form (filled out on the plane) and hand it in to the guy as you pass by him. Once I was randomly picked to go to a secondary inspection room where they opened my bags, but that doesn't happen often. Normally you just walk by and hand the guy your form. Smiling helps alot in Houston.

Then you follow everybody down more corridors. There's only one exit so everybody goes the same way. Near the exit she will see wide glass sliding doors opening/closing into the international arrivals area and all the people waiting on passengers. SHE DOESN'T GO OUT THE GLASS DOORS. Because she has a connecting flight, she doesn't go out into the arrival lobby. Shortly before the sliding glass doors, on the right there is the room for people with connecting flights to re-check their luggage and go on to the terminal/gate where they will board the next plane. There is always somebody in that wide corridor saying, "if you have a connecting fight come here." Connecting flight passengers remain airside rather than going out into the lobby. She will continue from that baggage re-check area back up escalators to find her next departure terminal/gate. International flights arrive at Terminal E. There's a train upstairs to connect to other terminals.

[Craneman 2]

TWO HOURS WOULD BE SAFE, ONE HOUR COULD CUT IT CLOSE

[riz 0]

At this time of year, it's not nearly as crowded in the immigration hall. Summer afternoons have so many planes landing from Mexico and the Bahamas that it's packed with people. I think two hours would give you enough time. Here's the procedure at Bush:

Exit plane and walk a long, long way down corridors. You can't get lost because everybody is rushing to the same destination so just follow the crowd. Go down set of escalators (there's 3 side by side I think).

Eventually you will see the immigration hall that looks like a big open gymnasium with the immigration checking desks lined across the middle, splitting it into two halves. US residents go to one side and visitors (your wife) go line up on the other side. She will present her passport at the counter and the I-94 card filled out on the plane and say "I'm entering on a K3 visa." They will call somebody to escort her to a room just at the end of the immigration counters. She wll wait until somebody calls her up to process her brown envelope of information. It probably won't take more than 20 minutes. That can vary depending on how many other immigrants arrive the same time. They are very nice there.

When she leaves the room, there are escalators to the right that go downstairs to baggage claim. Go down and make a U-turn at the bottom and she will see the baggage carousels. Her bags should be out by the time she's there because of her wait to process her papers.

She gets her luggage, then follows all the other people who line up to pass by the customs folks. Those are just podiums in the middle of a wide corridor area. You get out your customs form (filled out on the plane) and hand it in to the guy as you pass by him. Once I was randomly picked to go to a secondary inspection room where they opened my bags, but that doesn't happen often. Normally you just walk by and hand the guy your form. Smiling helps alot in Houston.

Then you follow everybody down more corridors. There's only one exit so everybody goes the same way. Near the exit she will see wide glass sliding doors opening/closing into the international arrivals area and all the people waiting on passengers. SHE DOESN'T GO OUT THE GLASS DOORS. Because she has a connecting flight, she doesn't go out into the arrival lobby. Shortly before the sliding glass doors, on the right there is the room for people with connecting flights to re-check their luggage and go on to the terminal/gate where they will board the next plane. There is always somebody in that wide corridor saying, "if you have a connecting fight come here." Connecting flight passengers remain airside rather than going out into the lobby. She will continue from that baggage re-check area back up escalators to find her next departure terminal/gate. International flights arrive at Terminal E. There's a train upstairs to connect to other terminals.

Thanks Nich-Nick for explaining the whole process in such detail. I appreciated it.

TWO HOURS WOULD BE SAFE, ONE HOUR COULD CUT IT CLOSE

Thanks!

[letty 1]

At this time of year, it's not nearly as crowded in the immigration hall.

Last Sunday I flew back from Europe and waited almost 40 minutes in the US citizen line at immigrations! I don't even know how long people ended up waiting in the visitors line but the whole hall was packed with people. The longest I ever waited there in line was 2 hours! Some times it's hard to predict how long it takes or how busy they are but usually 2 hours would be good, but I would rather wait longer on my connecting flight than to miss the plane.

Letty

[TBoneTX 46,171]

Nich-Nick knows what she's talking about.

Also: If the arrival time of the flight is known, go to www.cbp.gov and search under "ports" for the Houston airport. You can call the phone number for that port, talk to a CBP agent, and ask him/her what the anticipated wait-time for processing would be on that day at that TIME of day. I did this when my then-fiancee arrived, and CBP was very helpful.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

We had an hour in between flights and it was not enough. We missed our flight in Chicago by 5 minutes and thats all it takes.

They'll put you on the next one of course, but who wants that hassle?

[riz 0]

Nich-Nick knows what she's talking about.

Also: If the arrival time of the flight is known, go to www.cbp.gov and search under "ports" for the Houston airport. You can call the phone number for that port, talk to a CBP agent, and ask him/her what the anticipated wait-time for processing would be on that day at that TIME of day. I did this when my then-fiancee arrived, and CBP was very helpful.

Thanks TBoneTx.

[TBoneTX 46,171]

Thanks TBoneTx.

Si, man.