- 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
- the ability to monitor your own performance and that of your colleagues
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
You'll check visitors to the UK are allowed to enter and entitled to stay. You may:
- watch people and check passports 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
- collect statistics
- write reports
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.
With experience, you could become a chief immigration officer or higher executive officer in the Civil Service.
You can find more details about working as an immigration officer from Civil Service Careers and UK Visas and Immigration.
