Internal border controls




Asiaedit

Some countries maintain border controls between their own and claimed territories. These are not uncommon in some parts of Asia. For example, minority regions in India and China often require special permits (i.e. Restricted Area Permits, Protected Area Permits, Tibet Travel Permits, or Alien Travel Permits) for foreign nationals to enter in addition to visas where required. In some cases, these restrictions are not limited to foreigners. For instance, certain minority areas of India additionally require Indian citizens to possess an Inner Line Permit to enter. Similarly, the Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibetan: བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས།) in China exempts Chinese citizens from the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau to obtain TTPs and ATPs.citation needed However, Taiwanese people are required to obtain those permits even though, in the PRC, nationals of the ROC are commonly known as "Taiwanese compatriots" in news articles and for legislation purposes, "Chinese citizens residing in Taiwan".

Internal air and rail travel within non-autonomous portions of India and mainland China also generally requires travel documents to be checked by government officials as a form of interior border checkpoint. For such travel within India, Indian citizens may utilise their Voter ID, National Identity Card, passport, or other proof of Indian citizenship whilst Nepali nationals may present any similar proof of Napali citizenship. Meanwhile, for such travel within mainland China, Chinese nationals from the mainland are required to use their national identity cards.

Within China, extensive border controls are maintained for those travelling between the mainland, special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and areas controlled by the Republic of China.l Foreign nationals need to present their passports or other required types of travel documents when travelling between these areas. For Chinese nationals (including those with British National (Overseas) status), there are special documentso for travel between these territories. Similar arrangements, in the form of the Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents issued by mainland authority and similar permits issued by Taiwan authorities exist for travel between Taiwan and territories controlled by the People’s Republic of China. Internal border controls in the Chinese Special Administrative Regions have also meant that immigrants from the mainland require a One Way Travel Permit, the issuance of which is controlled by the mainland government, thus giving that region of China greater control over emigration rather than by Hong Kong or Macau as would be expected of border controls aimed at curtailing immigration.

Another example is the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, which have maintained their own border controls since joining Malaysia in 1963. The internal border control is asymmetrical; while Sabah and Sarawak impose immigration control on Malaysian citizens from other states, there is no corresponding border control in Peninsular Malaysia, and Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak have unrestricted right to live and work in the Peninsular. For social and business visits less than three months, Malaysian citizens may travel between the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak using the Malaysian identity card (MyKad) or Malaysian passport, while for longer stays in Sabah and Sarawak they are required to have an Internal Travel Document or a passport with the appropriate residential permit.

Meanwhile, in Bhutan, a microstate accessible by road only through India, there are interior border checkposts (primarily on the Lateral Road) and, additionally, certain areas require special permits to enter, whilst visitors not proceeding beyond the border city of Phuentsholing do not need permits to enter for the day (although such visitors are de facto subject to Indian visa policy since they must proceed through Jaigaon). Individuals who are not citizens of India, Bangladesh, or the Maldives are not allowed to proceed past Phuentsholing by land and are instead required to arrive by air at the country's sole international airport in Paro, which has flights from India and other countries in the Greater India region such as Thailand, Singapore, and Nepal.

The most restrictive internal border controls are in North Korea. Citizens are not allowed to travel outside their areas of residence without explicit authorisation, and access to the capital city of Pyongyang is heavily restricted. Similar restrictions are imposed on tourists, who are only allowed to leave Pyongyang on government-authorised tours to approved tourist sites.

  • Domestic Immigration stamp permitting entry into the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India.

  • Data page of a booklet type internal travel document issued by Taiwan authorities to a Mainland Chinese resident.

  • Internal travel document for Chinese citizens of Hong Kong or Macau to enter the mainland.

  • Malaysian entry stamps specify which jurisdictions (i.e. West or Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak) the bearer is permitted to enter, and there are immigration checks when entering each.

  • Sample of a One Way Travel Permit for internal emigration from mainland China to Hong Kong or Macau.

  • The Tibet Travel Permit, required to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region, is an example of internal border controls in minority regions of China and India. Other similar documents include Restricted Area Permits and Protected Area permits primarily issued to enter India’s northeast.

Europeedit

An example from Europe is the implementation of border controls on travel between Svalbard, which maintains a policy of free migration as a result of the Svalbard Treaty and the Schengen Area, which includes the rest of Norway. Other examples of effective internal border controls in Europe include the closed cities of certain CIS members, areas of Turkmenistan that require special permits to enter, restrictions on travel to the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan, and (depending on whether Northern and Southern Cyprus are considered separate countries) the Cypriot border. Similarly, Iraq's Kurdistan region maintains a separate and more liberal visa and customs area from the rest of the country, even allowing visa free entry for Israelis whilst the rest of the country bans them from entering. Denmark also maintains a complex system of subnational countries with autonomous customs policies, since they aren't within the European Union like the Danish mainland. These are Greenland and the Faroe Islands. These areas do not maintain strict immigration controls with the Schengen Area, but border controls are sporadically enforced for customs purposes.

In addition to the numerous closed cities of Russia, parts of 19 subjectsp of the Russian Federation are closed for foreigners without special permits and are consequently subject to internal border controls.

Israeli checkpoints (mahsom, hajez) also constitute a significant example of internal border controls. Spread throughout the State of Israel and the areas of the State of Palestine under de facto Israeli control, internal checkpoints are a key feature of Israeli and Palestinian life, and Israel’s internal border controls are amongst the most restrictive in the world.

An unusual example of internal border controls pertains to customs enforcement within the Schengen area. Even though borders are generally invisible, the existence of areas within the Schengen area but outside the European Union Value Added Tax Area, as well as jurisdictions such as Andorra which are not officially a part of the Schengen area but can not be accessed without passing through it, has resulted in the existence of sporadic internal border controls for customs purposes. Additionally, as per Schengen area rules, hotels and other types of commercial accommodation must register all foreign citizens, including citizens of other Schengen states, by requiring the completion of a registration form by their own hand. This does not apply to accompanying spouses and minor children or members of travel groups. In addition, a valid identification document has to be produced to the hotel manager or staff. The Schengen rules do not require any other procedures; thus, the Schengen states are free to regulate further details on the content of the registration forms, and identity documents which are to be produced, and may also require the persons exempted from registration by Schengen laws to be registered. A Schengen state is also permitted to reinstate border controls with another Schengen country for a short period where there is a serious threat to that state's "public policy or internal security" or when the "control of an external border is no longer ensured due to exceptional circumstances". When such risks arise out of foreseeable events, the state in question must notify the European Commission in advance and consult with other Schengen states. In April 2010 Malta introduced temporary checks due to Pope Benedict XVI's visit. It reimposed checks in 2015 in the weeks surrounding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In response to the European migrant crisis, several countries set up internal controls.

In 2019, Denmark, worried about the bombings in Sweden, introduced passport controls to Swedish citizens for the first time since the 1950s.

Another complex border control situation in Europe pertains to the United Kingdom. Whilst the crown dependencies are within the Common Travel Area, neither Gibraltar nor the sovereign British military exclaves of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are. The former maintains its own border control policies, thus requiring physical border security at its border with the Schengen Area as well as the implementation of border controls for travellers proceeding directly between Gibraltar and the British mainland. The latter maintains a relatively open border with Southern Cyprus, though not with Northern Cyprus. Consequently, it is a de facto member of the Schengen Area and travel to or from the British mainland requires border controls.

The Peace Lines in Northern Ireland are a de facto internal border security measure to separate Catholic and Republican communities and Protestant andUnionist communities from each other. They have been in place in some form or another since the end of The Troubles in 1998, with the Good Friday Agreement

  • Israeli checkpoint outside the Palestinian city of Ramallah. August 2004

  • Central entry checkpoint to the closed city of Seversk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia.

  • As a consequence of Svalbard's unique immigration status and exclusion from the rest of Norway for border control purposes, the city of Barentsburg is predominantly Russian and hosts the world's second northernmost statue of Lenin (the northernmost is in Pyramiden).

  • Border post between France and Andorra, a microstate that de facto follows Schengen immigration policies and utilises the Euro as its national currency yet is not a part of the European Union VAT and customs areas.

  • The Italy-Switzerland border is an internal Schengen border, but as seen at this border crossing at Chiasso, there are border control facilities since Switzerland maintains its own customs and tax area.

  • The red lines indicate temporary internal border controls within the Schengen Area. The blue area represents members of the Schengen area, the green area represents European Union members not in the Schengen Area, and the grey area represents the rest of western Europe.

U.S. territoriesedit

Multiple types of internal border controls exist in America. While the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands follow the visa policy of the United States, together, they also maintain their own visa waiver program for certain nationalities. Since the two territories are outside the customs territory of the United States, there are customs inspections when traveling between them, and the rest of the United States. American Samoa has its own customs and immigration regulations, thus travelling between it and other U.S. jurisdictions involves both customs and immigration inspections.

The U.S. Virgin Islands are a special case, falling within the U.S. immigration zone and solely following the U.S. visa policy, but being a customs free territory. As a result, there are no immigration checks between the two, but travellers arriving in Puerto Rico or the U.S. mainland directly from the Virgin Islands are subject to border control for customs inspection. The U.S. also maintains interior checkpoints, similar to those maintained by Bhutan, along its borders with Mexico and Canada, subjecting people to border controls even after they have entered the country. The city of Hyder, Alaska has also been subject to internal border controls since the U.S. chose to stop regulating arrivals in Hyder from British Columbia. Since travelers exiting Hyder into British Columbia are subject to Canadian border controls, it is theoretically possible for someone to accidentally enter Hyder from Canada without their travel documents and then to face difficulties since both the United States and Canada would subject them to border controls that require travel documents. See also Hyder–Stewart Border Crossing.

Realm of New Zealandedit

Tokelau, Niue, and the Cook Islands (Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) maintain independent and less restrictive border controls from New Zealand. The Cook Islands further maintain a separate nationality law. Additionally, border controls for Tokelau are complicated by the fact that the territory is, for the most part, only accessible via Samoa.

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