KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 — With the newly-formed Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS), Malaysia now joins the ranks of countries which have a single enforcement entity manning their international borders.
Most of these countries began adopting a unified border control agency as early as 2003, while Malaysia itself has been striving towards establishing one since 2008.
Now that Malaysia is a part of this progressive global trend, here is how border control agencies in some other countries look like:
1. Singapore
Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) was formed in April 2003 after the government merged the Immigration and Registration department with the Customs and Excise department.
By 2025, ICA is targeting the full rollout of contactless immigration clearance — using facial biometrics, data analytics and automation — for all travellers, cutting down waiting time to merely 15 seconds.
Under this New Clearance Concept (NCC), travellers who have enrolled their iris and facial biometrics with ICA can clear through immigration with just a quick scan. Meanwhile, ICA officers will be verifying travellers’ details on the move as they pass through the automated lanes.
2. United Kingdom
Comprising around 10,000 officers, the UK Border Force is responsible for immigration and customs controls at around 140 ports (sea, rail, and air) across the UK and overseas.
The UK Border Force was created in 2012 outside the UK Border Agency (UKBA) — which brought together customs, visas and immigration functions in 2008.
In 2013, UKBA was disbanded to create Immigration Enforcement and the UK Visas and Immigration. This came after a report revealed that UKBA had a backlog of more than 16,000 applications from migrants for permission to stay in Britain — some dating back 10 years.
Since November 2023, the UK government has introduced the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to several countries, including Malaysia, in stages. An ETA is digital permission to travel to the UK for stays up to six months at a time for over two years or until the holder’s passport expires, whichever is sooner.
3. Australia
Founded in 2015, the Australian Border Force (ABF) unified the country’s Customs and Border Protection Service with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The agency emerged as the country’s second-highest revenue collector in 2019 and had over 5,870 officers stationed across 66 locations, as of June 2021.
According to the agency’s website, ABF inspects 1.1 million items, clears 700 ships and 750,000 air passengers and locates 300 illegal migrants each week.
4. United States
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was formed in March 2003 as a direct result of recommendations made by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) following the deadly coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
With over 58,000 employees, CBP is the largest law enforcement agency within the country’s Department of Homeland Security and oversees over 300 ports of entry.
As part of his sweeping immigration crackdown, President Donald Trump ordered the agency to shut down its CBP One app on January 21, which allowed migrants to schedule appointments to apply for asylum-seeker status at the country’s entry points.
