How to become a customs or Immigration officer

Official title: Customs/Immigration officer

Also called: Border inspector, Customs inspector, Customs officer, Hand luggage inspector, Immigration inspector, Immigration officer, Passport checking officer, Ÿ Border inspector, Ÿ Customs inspector, Ÿ Passport checking officer

Customs/Immigration officer checks persons, vehicles and goods crossing national borders to administer and enforce relevant government rules and regulations.

Main tasks

• Patrolling national borders and coastal waters to stop persons from illegally entering or leaving the country and from illegally importing or exporting currency or goods
• Checking travel documents of persons crossing national borders to ensure that they have the necessary authorisations and certificates
• Inspecting the luggage of persons crossing national borders to ensure that it conforms to government rules and regulations concerning import or export of goods and currencies
• Examining transport documents and freight of vehicles crossing national borders to ensure conformity with government rules and regulations concerning goods in transit and the import and export of goods and to verify that necessary payments have been made
• Detaining persons and seizing prohibited and undeclared goods found to be in violation of immigration and customs laws
• Coordinating and cooperating with other agencies involved in law enforcement, deportation and prosecution
• Performing related administrative tasks to record findings, transactions, violations and determinations
• Testifying in a court of law about the circumstances and results of investigations carried out when necessary

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Police inspector
• Auxiliary police officer supervisor
• Government tax/excise official
• Government social benefits official
• Government licensing official

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Questions people ask

Will AI change the work of a customs or Immigration officer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026