Border checkpoint

The San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana is the busiest border crossing in the world.

A border checkpoint is a place, generally between two countries, where travelers or goods are inspected. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders often have a limited number of checkpoints where they can be crossed without legal sanctions. Arrangements or treaties may be formed to allow or mandate less restrained crossings (e.g. the Schengen Agreement). Land border checkpoints (land ports of entry) can be contrasted with the customs and immigration facilities at seaports, international airports, and other ports of entry.

Checkpoints generally serve two purposes:

• To prevent entrance of individuals who are either undesirable (e.g., criminals or others who pose threats) or are simply unauthorized to enter.
• To prevent entrance of goods that are illegal or subject to restriction, or to collect tariffs.

Checkpoints are usually manned by a uniformed service (sometimes referred to as customs service or border patrol agents).

In some countries (e.g. China and Japan), there are border checkpoints when both entering and exiting the country, while in others (e.g. U.S. and Canada), there are border checkpoints only when entering the country. (There are also United States Border Patrol interior checkpoints.)

Definitions in European Union (Schengen) law

Italian-Swiss border post - since Switzerland joined the Schengen Agreement in 2009, this checkpoint is solely for customs formalities

The Schengen Borders Code, which forms part of the law of the European Union, defines some terms as follows (particularities with respect to the EU are left out, in order to emphasize general usability of those definitions):

• "Border crossing point" means any crossing point authorized by the competent authorities for the crossing of external borders (Article 2 sec. 8 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border control" means the activity carried out at a border, [...] in response exclusively to an intention to cross or the act of crossing that border, regardless of any other consideration, consisting of border checks and border surveillance (Article 2 sec. 9 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border checks" means the checks carried out at border crossing points, to ensure that persons, including their means of transport and the objects in their possession, may be authorised to enter the territory [...] or authorised to leave it (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border surveillance" means the surveillance of borders between border crossing points and the surveillance of border crossing points outside the fixed opening hours, in order to prevent persons from circumventing border checks (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code).
• "Second line check" means a further check which may be carried out in a special location away from the location at which all persons are checked (first line)

These definitions mean that a place where a road crosses an internal Schengen border is legally not a "border crossing point".

Gallery

• 
  United States–Mexico border checkpoint at Nogales, Arizona.
• 
  1970s photo taken of the Vietnam-Cambodia border west of Ho Chi Minh City from the Cambodian side.
• 
  An African road border entering Niger from Benin at Gaya
• 
  Old border post on the France-Spain border (both countries now part of the Schengen Area)
• 
  Looking into Austria from Liechtenstein, with a joint border station. Since Liechtenstein joined the Schengen Area in 2011, this border station is for customs formality only.
• 
  Nekhoteevka customs on the Russia-Ukraine border.

See also

• Alcabala
• Border
• Border control
• Border outpost
• Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall
• Customs
• Frontier Closed Area is the border area in Hong Kong with China
• Garitas in Mexico
• Israeli checkpoint
• Schengen Agreement
• The United States–Mexico border and Canada–United States border
• List of Canada–United States border crossings
• List of Mexico–United States border crossings