National borders appear very different from each other. While closely associated countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium might be divided by a mere line in the pavement, borders with much political tension might be heavily fortified, such as the Korean DMZ.
In general, there are three kinds of border controls: Immigration, which checks people crossing the border, Customs, which checks goods crossing the border and Security, which is for the safety of the aircraft or vehicle used to make the trip. Depending on the political situation and sometimes the mode of travel, none, one, or all may be enforced.
In addition to borders between proper countries, there may be borders or control points inside what could be regarded as one country. Greenland, although part of the Kingdom of Denmark, maintains its own immigration policies, and agricultural checks are carried out when travelling between mainland USA and Hawaii.
Preparation
- See also: Passport, Visa, Visa trouble, Traveling with a criminal history
| “ | Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart, My land's only borders lie around my heart! | ” |
—Chess | ||
The terms for travelling between countries differ a lot. The destination country's embassy in your homeland, or their foreign affairs department, can provide information for their country. While travel agents' homepages might inform about rules for their destination country, there is no guarantee that the information is up to date. As a general principle, rules are more relaxed for citizens of a high-income country who visit a low-income country, than the other way around. For tourists who make a temporary visit, without the intent to settle or work, there are some typical cases:
- No check at all. Carrying a passport or other ID is still recommended when travelling abroad.
- Selective passport check.
- Passport check, possibly stamping of passport.
- Passport check and a standard questionnaire on arrival, usually on a document provided by the carrier. If the questionnaire is approved, you get a temporary permit to stay in the country.
- Visa on arrival. In practice the same as the above.
- Advance visa application. Some visa processes can be done online. Others might be complicated, requiring a physical visit at the destination country's embassy. A visa gives no guarantee to enter the country.
If you have a criminal record, some countries might deny entrance, or require special assurance.
A visa or entrance permit might require a return ticket, and an address to the accommodation, and statement of the journey's purpose. It is usually limited in time; usually 90 days.
Permission for studying abroad, working abroad or retiring abroad usually requires a special visa or permit. Some countries have questions that may intrude on your privacy, such as about your political history, employment, economic status, and previous addresses.
Some countries' customs control will require you to fill out a form stating such things as what goods you are planning to leave in the country or how much cash you carry. Often you should get the form and get it stamped if you carry money or valuables out of the ordinary, to avoid problems when customs finds them, possibly on your way out.
Some items may be banned or require paperwork to import. You don't want to be told at the border that your pet should have got that tapeworm cure in advance, or that your sealskin purse will get you to court.
Some border crossing points are open only at specific hours. Check this beforehand.
Security
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- See also: At the airport#Security check
Security checkpoints differ between forms of transport, and countries involved. For flights this obviously involves extensive checks on any potentially dangerous items, it is as strict as to include bottles of liquid, pocket tools and laser pointers. Be aware of sniffer machines; make sure you have a shower and change your clothes after going hunting or being on the firing range.
On vehicle ferries there are often chemical and radioactive material scanners you need to drive through. Some crossing vehicles may be quickly checked inside looking for stow-away illegal immigrants.
Road border security may be nothing more than just slowing down a little. Although there are no physical checks, there are usually cameras scanning vehicle number plates and sometimes facial recognition scans.
While most trains have no security check, Eurostar (between England and mainland Europe) and Chinese high speed trains do, so plan arriving half an hour or so early at the station.
At high-risk destinations, an airport or transportation terminal might have multiple security checkpoints. They can be at the road gates, at the building entrance, and at the airside barriers.
Buses rarely have security checks, but on some routes you might have to pass through a metal detector or have your bags scanned.
Immigration
An immigration checkpoint is usually the first stop when disembarking from a plane, a ship, or another vehicle. In some cross-border trains inspections are done on the running train and you should have valid ID with you when boarding one of those trains. On night sleeper trains, passports may be collected by the conductor so that you do not have your sleep interrupted.
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Here checks are made to see that you are allowed to enter a country. This will involve checking that your travel documents are correct, verify the reason for entering the country and the length of your stay. What further questions you will have to answer and how you are processed will depend on whether you are travelling just as a short term tourist, for work (short or long stay), study, emigration or seeking asylum. Checks may also be made on any criminal and political history (see travelling with a criminal history). At some borders evidence of travel to some countries (however circumstantial) may make you subject to further questioning or being denied entry altogether. Similarly, visa free entry or electronic visas like the US visa-waiver program may be restricted if you've visited certain countries in the past. Some countries can deny entry if your motive for travel or explanation of your trip seems dubious or questionable; religion and sexuality are also areas that may be treated with suspicion by some countries; some countries require enough economic funds, by some definition.
Some countries, such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore require all visitors to be fingerprinted by immigration on entry. While this may be controversial due to privacy concerns, you are expected to cooperate with the authorities on the matter rather than insisting on your right to privacy. If you refuse, expect to be barred from entry into the country and placed on the next flight out.
A few isolated territories, such as Svalbard or Antarctica, have no border controls, or legal or de facto restrictions on immigration. However, they might only be within reach through countries with border controls; for instance, all regular flights to Svalbard depart from Norway. Some territories might require permission by a relevant government agency; for Antarctica the permission can be obtained by any signatory country of the Antarctic Treaty.
Digital & social media
Some countries, including some Western ones, may demand access to your laptop and mobile phone as part of the immigration process. Although you may not be obliged to provide passwords, you may be denied entry to the country if you do not cooperate. Some business travellers travel with a 'clean' laptop, with the intention of downloading sensitive documents from their company network after they pass through immigration. This allows them to comply with the request of the border agent as well as keeping their data secure.
Additionally some countries are demanding details of or even access to your online email and social media accounts. Again you can refuse to do so, but you may be refused entry as a result. It may be worth checking your social media history for posts that may be considered derogatory or insulting to your destination country (i.e. a joke about that country's president) and deleting them, in case they form the basis for denying you entry.
Customs
- See also: Shopping#Restrictions
A customs checkpoint makes sure you are not bringing into the country any illegal items (e.g. protected animals or products thereof, or illegal drugs such as coca, cannabis and some e-cigarette liquids), items that you need to pay tax or duty on (e.g. alcohol, luxury goods) or items that need a permit (e.g. firearms, explosives and some antiques). These checks can also be carried out within the same country at the border of a Free Port. To prevent the transfer of disease, food stuffs and plant products are generally not allowed to be transported across borders; this can and often does include things like the apple in your bag or firewood in your truck. Some countries also prohibit travellers from bringing in items from particular countries; many Arab countries prohibit bringing in products of Israel, while the U.S. prohibits bringing in products from countries on which it has imposed economic sanctions (eg. Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea).
Some customs sniffer machines are very sensitive, so do not eat a poppy seed coated bread roll (opiates are made from poppies and most drug tests give false positives after consumption of poppy seeds) in Frankfurt airport before a flight to the Gulf countries.
On cross border ferries, vehicles can be searched for illegal stowaways.
Governments are increasingly snooping through data stored on mobile devices, a problem for business travel as many professionals are bound by ethical, contractual or legal restrictions to keep certain data (such as lawyer-client, journalist-source, preacher-parishioner or doctor-patient communication) privileged or confidential. Voyagers have been turned away at the border because data on their mobile devices indicated their intention to engage in peaceful protest while in the USA, depicted video of Muslim prayers or contained names of people the government dislikes among the contacts. Non-citizens at a border post typically receive none of the constitutionally-protected rights which a nation is expected to extend to its own citizens at home. It may be best to carry a "burner" phone with no sensitive data, passwords or encryption keys in the device's local memory.
Some customs-like inspection points are not related to international borders. For example, all travellers to and from Hawaii (and on many overland routes into California) are subject to a rather comprehensive agricultural inspection, whereas most borders between EU countries don't have any customs inspections in the classical sense at all.
You may well get picked out for spot checks, even well after crossing the border, if arriving from e.g. the Netherlands and fitting certain criteria.
If you have goods that need customs clearance and the border is less strictly checked (such as between Finland and Norway – or Åland!), you may have to visit a customs office quite a distance from your intended border crossing, possibly open only at specific hours (daytime, office hours or at ferry arrival).
Location of controls
Security controls are obviously done before boarding the form of transport. In airports and other transportation terminals, customs is usually the last checkpoint after baggage claim and duty-free shopping, before legally entering the destination country. Sometimes border controls are carried out on both sides of the border, by the respective country.
Immigration and customs may not be directly on the border. For example, British passport and customs control for cross channel ferries and Eurostar are on the French side before boarding (and French controls are on the British side); and for flights to the USA from Canada, the US controls can be at the Canadian airport (the same goes for some airports in Ireland, UAE and the Caribbean too). The check can also be some distance from the border itself, e.g. at the start of a border zone, to avoid contact between officials of hostile countries, or by the village closest to the border, where there is infrastructure. An example is Knunjerab Pass, where Chinese and Pakistani immigration and customs inspection will be done far away from the border itself (However, preliminary screens will be conducted at the border).
In some cases, immigration control is also imposed on domestic travellers; people travelling between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, as well as between the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, are subject to immigration controls, as are travellers between Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq, as well as those traveling between the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong or Macau and Mainland China.
Customs controls may also occur where there is no national boundary, such as on entering and leaving a free port area. Customs controls may also occur within a country, for example Germany frequently checks vehicles (particularly foreign trucks) on their autobahns. International train connections between European countries are a favorite location for immigration officials to check visas, even if there are no formal immigration controls. Customs-like controls are also in place for people and goods travelling between different Australian states, and sometimes into specific agricultural regions within the United States (including controls on those travelling between the mainland and Hawaii).
Boarding
Between many countries, the carrier (the airline, the train company, etc) is liable for carrying undocumented immigrants on board. Many carriers make a preliminary passport/visa check at boarding, or on board. Some carriers have stricter requirements on the documents than the border authorities (in which case arguing may or may not help). Online or remote check-in methods may be restricted, in which case travellers who need to show additional travel documents (e.g. visa) will be able to check in only at the airport. Travellers without their documents in order can be refused to board, even with a valid ticket.
In some cases (such as trains in Europe), police or other government officers can do the immigration check on board.
Free movement
Some (typically neighboring) countries have agreements that allow travel between them without having to pass immigration.
There is full free movement between European Union countries for EU and EEA citizens, although passports may be required when crossing borders. The Schengen agreement allows travel between many (but not all) European Union and EEA countries even for non-citizens without any border checks in normal circumstances. Citizens do not need a passport if they have an official ID card (and not even that in some cases). Visiting customs or making arrangements may still be necessary in special cases (e.g. bringing a pet, carrying firearms, having a country-specific visa).
The United Kingdom and Ireland, which are not members of Schengen, have a separate mutual free movement treaty, and this will not be lost after the UK formally exits the European Union. The terms of Britain’s exit from the EU may require the UK to implement customs checks for domestic UK travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Central America-4 (CA-4) Border Control Agreement is a treaty between the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua that allows the free movement of citizens and foreigners (with a valid visa for one of those countries).
The Russia-Belarus Union State allows Belarusian and Russian citizens free movement similar to that which exists with the UK and Ireland. This is not the case for other foreigners, as it is not possible to travel between Russia and Belarus overland. The only way to travel between them for foreigners is by air, where they will go through normal immigration and customs inspection.
The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) allow their citizens freedom of movement inside the area. However, this does not apply to foreigners and even holders of a tourist visa to one of the GCC countries will have to submit to Saudi Arabia's pretty strict visa requirements even for a short visit.
The Mercosur trading bloc in South America is similar to the European Union in that it allows free travel, residency and work in any member country for nationals of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Additionally, many South American countries often allow Photo ID for travel in the region for South American citizens.
Citizens of Australia and New Zealand have freedom of movement between each other's countries, though this privilege can be revoked for those who have a criminal record.
The African Union Passport was unveiled in 2016 that will (in theory) allow all citizens of all 57 African nations visa free travel around the continent. It remains to be seen how quickly this will be adopted by member states.
Citizens of the ASEAN group of countries in South East Asia can travel visa-free around the bloc (with the exception of Malaysia and Myanmar, both still require visas for citizens of the other). However, full border controls remain in place, and ASEAN citizens are not allowed to take up residence or work without permission in another ASEAN country.
Border zones
In many countries the immediate vicinity of the border to some neighbours is closed, and attempts to enter the zone without permit (outside designated border crossings) result in an arrest, interrogation and fines. Examples include Russia, Finland, Israel and Hong Kong.
Some border zones are porous and poorly marked. This can result in accidental illegal entry and arrest by the other country's security forces. Examples of countries conducting such arrests include Iran (near the border with Iraq) and North Korea (near the border with China).
Airport transit
- See also: Arriving by plane
The airside of some international airports is a no man's land, where arriving passengers don't need to pass Immigration or Customs; however, Security might be enforced.
Some countries enforce immigration control even for transit passengers; notably the United States and Canada. See Avoiding travel through the United States and Canada to find other ways around the world.
Fees
Some countries, such as the USA, charge for immigration control costs. For air travellers this may be hidden in the price of the ticket, but if you cross by car or on foot, you will have to pay directly. In some (particularly low income) countries you will have to pay a fee even if arriving or leaving by air and this fee isn't included in your ticket price or comes on top of the fees that are. Such fees or taxes are charged for a variety of purposes, including to cover administrative costs, for environmental reasons, to discourage air travel, or to raise general funds. At some borders these fees can be paid by any variety of means (either currency or even a third one as well as credit and debit cards) whereas others insist on it being paid in national currency and small change. Even if there are no official fees, border officials in some developing countries may demand a bribe before letting you into the country or allowing you to leave. Wikivoyage aims to cover these things in the get in sections of country articles and border destinations, but if you see something that we don't or that is out of date, plunge forward.
Returning home
- See also: Returning home
If your passport is in order, immigration is typically a smooth formality when you return home.
Customs checks might be more harsh, however; especially if you arrive from a country associated with smuggling, or other illegal border activity.
Special cases
- North America: Avoiding travel through the United States, Avoiding travel through Canada, Global Entry, NEXUS, Americans in Cuba
- Europe: Travelling around the Schengen Area, Visa summary for EU citizens