Launch of Britain’s new unified Border Agency

Border, immigration, customs and visa checks will be united from today in the country’s new UK Border Agency, the Home Office has announced.

The new UK Border Agency, established as a shadow agency of the Home Office, will protect our borders, control migration for the benefit of the country, prevent border tax fraud, smuggling and immigration crime and implement quick and fair decisions.

The new 25,000 strong organisation includes more than 9,000 warranted officers operating in local communities, at the border and across 135 countries worldwide, with wide ranging search, seizure and detention powers.

Over the next four months 1,000 frontline staff will be conferred with both immigration and customs powers and staff in England and Wales will be equipped with police-like powers as set out in the UK Borders Act 2007. A full merger will follow new legislation presented to the House in the autumn.

The UK Border Agency will link with the 3,000 police stationed at ports and airports following a new agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers. Talks are continuing on closer integration.

Announcing the launch of the Agency, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

“The UK Border Agency will help strengthen protection of our border. With tough customs, immigration and police-like powers UK Border Agency officers will be better equipped than ever to guard our ports and airports, protecting the country from illegal immigration, organised crime and terrorism.

“This 25,000 strong force will work both at home and abroad to tackle smuggling of people and goods into Britain using intelligence, new technology and wide-ranging powers and I am confident it will help strengthen policing at the border.

“Already taxpayers can see our investment in new technology paying off and creating a ring of security around Britain. Fingerprints are now being taken from all visa applicants to the UK, this year we will increase police, customs and immigration checks against visitors travelling through our ports, and we will see the roll-out of ID cards for foreign national from November.”


Tough targets were announced for the new agency in its business plan published today. They include targets to:

• expel 5,000 foreign national prisoners from Britain this year, up from 4,200 last year;

• sustain last year’s increase in the seizure of class A drugs by seizing at least 2,400 kilograms of cocaine and 550 kilograms of heroin by April 2009;

• increase by 50 per cent the number of asylum cases concluded in less than six months;

• extend the UK’s visas regime to cover a larger proportion of the world’s population; and

• increase detention capacity by 20 per cent over the next two years to help increase the number of immigration offenders we can remove from the country.