MIEssexPeeps

Assuming that all is well and my IR-1 is granted, I'm assuming that at the POE I'll be sent to secondary processing to deal with the green card stuff.

I know this is something of a "how long is a piece of string?" question, but how long is the typical "hold up" at the POE when you first enter with your IR-1?

The reason I ask is that we'll be bringing our pets with us and I want to know whether or not I should stagger when we arrive at Orlando International and when the pets arrive. I don't want them held up in cages waiting if I can help it.

Thanks in advance!

Noorah101

It really depends on how busy it is, what time of day, which POE, etc. It could be as quick as 1/2 an hour or as much as 3 hours. Figure at least a couple of hours, but could be less.

Rene

MIEssexPeeps

Great, thank you! I just needed a ball park idea.

md95065

Actual processing time for you probably won't be more than a few minutes.
The big unknown is how many people there will be ahead of you in line.

If your (presumably US citizen) wife is traveling with you on the same flight I don't see any reason why she can't just go straight through the US citizens line and start the process of retrieving your pets while you wait to be processed.

MIEssexPeeps

Thank you!! That's what we're trying to figure out. Usually when we go over, we go through the USC line and we're out of there pretty quickly. We're trying to work out how to minimize the hold up for the pets. We have 3 dogs and 3 cats and 2 of our dogs are 10 years old.

I know that it really depends on the airport on the day, but just getting an idea will help us come up with a plan. Thanks again!

Pulaski

I was in and out in 20 minutes. ...... That was EWR in November 2001.

If at all possible I recommend finagling a transatlantic flight direct to your port of entry, even if it means flying via LHR. For example, flying Manchester to LHR, then LHR to Denver instead of Manchester to JFK (POE), then JFK to Denver.

MIEssexPeeps

We'll be flying direct Gatwick to Orlando International which will be the State we'll reside in. Thank you!

BunnyGirl

I was in secondary for 2 hours in DFW

Amie06

I arrived through Atlanta on K1, only one family of four in front of me, problem was none of them had English as first language and it took ages.