EWR Immigration Time
 

How long does it take to clear immigration process at Newark, New Jersey airport upon arrival?

Moved to the Air Travel forum.

It can depend on what day of the week, your time of arrival, how many other international flights arrive around the same time as your flight, whether you are a US citizen or a foreign National and, if a US citizen, whether or not you have Global Entry.

For what it is worth, I’m a US citizen with Global Entry and the last time I arrived EWR on an international flight with only carryon luggage I cleared Immigration and exited the Customs Hall in under 5 minutes. On other occasions it’s taken a bit longer. On those rare occasions when I’ve had checked luggage I still cleared Immigration in less than 10 minutes but waited somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes for the checked bags to arrive before I could exit the Customs Hall.

Once you have you luggage or if you only have carryon clearing Customs is usually quick if you have nothing to declare or if you are not singled out for a thorough inspection by a customs agent.

So, bottom line, figure on a minimum of 15 minutes to clear immigration and customs of you have Global Entry and only carryon, figure on around 45 to 60 minutes if a US citizen w/o GE and checked bags. If you are a non-US citizen with checked luggage allow at least 1 hour and possibly 90 minutes to clear Immigration and Customs.

My experience, albeit limited, is similar.

My last entry through EWR was about 2 years ago. As a US citizen without GE, it took me about 20min to clear immigration, but I then had to wait for my checked bags another 20minutes before I could exit customs. The line for non-US citizens was substantially longer.

The biggest unknown is what other flights arrived just ahead of you..

Thank you for sharing the information. Is immigration open 24 hours at EWR?

Yes.

We went through immigration with Global Entry, ten minutes total at most.

I'd be surprised if the OP is enrolled in Global Entry. How long it would take is really unknowable . . . depends on what passport you carry, the purpose for your visit, where the flight originated, the covid and testing situation at the time, how many other long haul flights land around the same time, how many desks are open and if kiosks are working. Could be minutes, could be hours - or anything in between.