Johor Bahru Checkpoint (
Malaysia) and Woodlands Checkpoint (
Singapore) on the
Malaysia–Singapore border handles the busiest international land border crossing in the world, with 350,000 travellers daily.[1][2]
A border checkpoint is a location on an
international border where travelers or goods
are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. 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 simply unauthorized to enter.
To prevent entrance of goods that are illegal or subject to restriction, or to collect
tariffs.
In some countries (e.g. China) there are border checkpoints for both those entering and those 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 Area in 2008, this checkpoint is solely for customs formalities
The SchengenBorders 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):[3]
"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".
Busiest checkpoints in the world
Land
This is a list of the busiest land border checkpoints in the world, handling more than 35 million travelers in both directions annually. These travelers (or individual crossings) comprise pedestrians, drivers and vehicle passengers. International border checkpoints are in green.
Notes:
As the United States does not have border checkpoints for outgoing traffic, incoming traffic figures are doubled to give a fair comparison. See detailed notes in table.
This is a list of the busiest airports in the world, by international passenger traffic, as of 2018. Airports serving international passengers are effectively checkpoints, and have the proper customs, immigration and quarantine facilities.
Airports Council International's (January–December) preliminary figures are as follows.[9]
This is a list of the busiest seaports in the world, with proper customs, immigration and quarantine facilities to be deemed as maritime checkpoints. Although figures simply represent total passenger traffic, most (if not, all) of the passengers served at these ports are bound for other countries and have to pass through checkpoint (i.e. the port is not a domestic one). This list only includes ports that handle more than 4 million passengers annually.
Note:
The four passenger ports in China, Hong Kong and Macau in this list operate services to and from each other. These passenger ports are effectively checkpoints, as they have the proper customs, immigration and quarantine facilities.
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)
The Pont Saint-Ludovic / Ponte San Ludovico border checkpoint between
Menton, France, and
Ventimiglia, Italy (both countries are 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 formalities only.
^
abSan Diego / Tijuana: Northbound individual crossings are recorded, as listed in a
workbookArchived 2019-07-15 at the
Wayback Machine by the
USDOT. As southbound border crossings counts are not formally produced and publicly available, it is estimated that a similar number of crossings occurs from San Diego to Tijuana, as has previously been done in a
reportArchived 2021-04-29 at the
Wayback Machine by the
SANDAG. Since this is an estimate, the resulting figure has been rounded off to the nearest 100,000.
^
abcdSchengen Area: This airport or seaport is located in the Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished (particularly land borders), though there can be temporary checkpoints or passport requirements at check in. Thus, flights/ships within the area may have a large number of international passengers travel wholly within this area without passing through permanent border checkpoints within the airport or seaport facility, with those passengers potentially counted in domestic totals. The figures for airports and seaports in these tables represent international passengers, per breakdown data supplied by
Airports Council International, and it is unclear whether these figures include or exclude intra-Schengen Area passengers as international.
^Taipa Ferry Terminal: annual average of 2013 to 2017 five year total