Anyone know the average time it takes to go through Immigration & Customs at the airport (pref. JFK) on a Monday or Tuesday. I am buying a ticket for my fiance and want to know how much time to leave him before his connecting flight to seattle. 1 instance has him arrive from LHR at 1pm and leave at 6:15pm. Another is 2:35pm and leave at 6:15pm. Would the latter be enough time??? Or should I not risk it and leave the bigger gap?
Thanks for any insight. Is there a site that tells me this anywhere?

Hi - I'm afraid I wont be much help, but just to let you know I was having a mass panic before we booked our flight direct to Seattle as we were going to have a change (I think at Chicago.) I looked high and low and found processing times from a few minutes to several hours! So not much help. You could check out the POE experiences (damn, I can't remember how to find them on this site, there are notes on each POE somewhere...maybe someone less stupid than me could point you in the right direction??!) and see what people have written for JFK.

Some of it is luck, for example when we arrived at Seattle we had a five minute wait, but there was only one guy processing new immigrants and he was just finishing with a couple when we arrived, it took about 10 minutes for us but there was a new immigrant family of four next in line then two more couples and a single guy, so the last guy's time would have been significantly longer, just due to his bad luck on timing.

Best wishes,

~Candace

I can't comment on JFK either sorry - in Houston at peak time i.e. 3 big international flights landing at once, it can take 2 hours to clear through immigration.

Another option for him depending on where he lives in the UK would be to fly through Dublin - there most planes clear immigration in Dublin first, so there's no queuing once stateside.

I asked this question and was sent this e-mail
It took almost 3 hours to go through immigration, allow the extra time. It all depends upon the motivation of the people working, some are real lazy. If she wants to work she will need to request that her I-94 is stamped with "Temporary Woek Authorization". JFK is the only POE still doing this. After she gets out of immigration there are cart racks, it costs $3.00 in quarters. They are sometimes, if not sold out, available at the baggage claim before immigration. After she comes out into the open area she will have to board the airtrain which goes between terminals. It is a hike to get to the station. My Fiancee came in on American Airlines, Terminal 8. Other termonals/airlines may be better. They are remodling JFK and Terminal 8 is still old. We had to walk to Terminal 9 to board the airtrain. My honest opinion is that you should go to New York to meet her. Get a room close to the airport, such as the Fairfield Inn, and take their shuttle to the airport. Meet her, let her grt some sleep before continuing your journey. My Fiancee came from Ukraine and had been up for almost 24 hours when she finally cleared immigration. We were driving home from the airport to Buffalo. It made her first night much more relaxed and our drive was really nice as she was awake and checking out her new country. Just my opinion, it may not work for you. But I would really stress that she can use your help at the airport after clearing immigration. My Fiancee also speaks english, it is more just getting through a strange airport when you are real tired. Good luck and let me know how it goes...