Narrative:

We were arriving into newark from the south on the phlbo arrival; and newark was landing on 22L. We were still south of the airport and at 3;000 feet when approach control vectored us off of the arrival to give us a right downwind heading for a 22L landing. At this point the approach controller asked us if we had the airport in sight. We confirmed with one another that the field was indeed in sight; and the captain told the controller that we had the field in sight. We were then cleared for a visual approach to runway 22L. At this point we were on a wide right downwind for the runway. The captain said he would set in 1;500 feet as that was the final approach fix altitude for runway 22L. I agreed and confirmed the selected altitude; and began a descent down. Both the captain and myself had terrain selected on our nds; and nothing indicated that we would have any issues. As we were descending to 1;500 feet; somewhere around 1;700 feet or so we got a GPWS 'terrain; pull up'. At that same time the approach controller came on and told us that the minimum vectoring altitude in that area was 2;000 feet; of which we had no idea; and that we should climb back up to 2;000 feet. I had already begun climbing as the captain was resetting 2;000 feet. As soon as I began initiating a climb the GPWS terrain warning went away. I leveled the aircraft off at 2;000 feet; for a total climb of approximately 300 feet. After we returned to 2;000 feet we continued with the visual approach to a normal landing on runway 22L without incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew reported triggering a terrain warning from the GPWS when they descended below MVA on a night visual approach to RWY 22L at EWR.

Narrative: We were arriving into Newark from the south on the PHLBO arrival; and Newark was landing on 22L. We were still south of the airport and at 3;000 feet when approach control vectored us off of the arrival to give us a right downwind heading for a 22L landing. At this point the approach controller asked us if we had the airport in sight. We confirmed with one another that the field was indeed in sight; and the captain told the controller that we had the field in sight. We were then cleared for a visual approach to runway 22L. At this point we were on a wide right downwind for the runway. The captain said he would set in 1;500 feet as that was the final approach fix altitude for runway 22L. I agreed and confirmed the selected altitude; and began a descent down. Both the captain and myself had terrain selected on our NDs; and nothing indicated that we would have any issues. As we were descending to 1;500 feet; somewhere around 1;700 feet or so we got a GPWS 'Terrain; pull up'. At that same time the approach controller came on and told us that the minimum vectoring altitude in that area was 2;000 feet; of which we had no idea; and that we should climb back up to 2;000 feet. I had already begun climbing as the captain was resetting 2;000 feet. As soon as I began initiating a climb the GPWS terrain warning went away. I leveled the aircraft off at 2;000 feet; for a total climb of approximately 300 feet. After we returned to 2;000 feet we continued with the visual approach to a normal landing on runway 22L without incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.