Immigration officer

Immigration officers make decisions on whether people have the right to visit or stay in the UK.

• Starter salary£30,000 a year
• Experienced£44,000 a year
• Typical hours40 to 45 a week

What you'll do

As an immigration officer, you could:

• watch people and check documents and visas in passport control areas
• interview people to check they are entitled to stay
• arrange for people to go back to the country they came from
• organise places in holding centres, for example for people claiming asylum
• monitor people and gather information through surveillance work
• work on joint operations with police and Border Force officials
• visit and interview people who are suspected of not having the right to remain in the UK

Working environment

You could work at an airport, at a border post or at a port.

Your working environment may be emotionally demanding and you'll travel often.

Skills and knowledge you'll need

You'll need:

• excellent verbal communication skills
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• customer service skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• knowledge of English language
• the ability to work well with others
• the ability to think clearly using logic and reasoning
• excellent written communication skills
• to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

How to become a immigration officer

You can get into this job through:

• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• working towards this role
• applying directly

College

You could do a college course in public services which would teach you some of the skills needed in this role. After you finish your course you could apply for a trainee immigration officer post.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for these courses vary.

Apprenticeship

You could start as a trainee immigration officer and do a Public Service Operational Delivery Officer Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship with the Civil Service.

With qualifications and experience, you could move on to immigration officer roles.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship

Work

You could join the Civil Service as an assistant immigration officer . Once working, you could apply for a post as an immigration officer when vacancies become available.

Direct application

You could apply directly for immigration officer jobs with the Civil Service. The qualifications and experience you'll need will depend on the exact job you're applying for, but you'll find it useful to have:

• 2 A levels at grade C or above
• a degree for some jobs
• customer service skills
• the ability to speak another language

Restrictions and requirements

You'll need to:

• be over 18 years of age
• be a UK citizen
• pass security checks
• pass enhanced background checks
• pass a medical check
• have a full driving licence

Career path and progression

With experience, you could become a senior immigration officer or manager in the Civil Service.

Guides for this industry

• Immigration & Border Force: pay, interviews and getting started →

Related roles

• Job roleAssistant immigration officer
• Job roleBorder Force officer
• Job roleCivil Service executive officer
• Job roleImmigration adviser (non-government)
• Job rolePolice officer

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0