Puntos de entrada

La eficacia del sistema de gestión de fronteras depende en gran medida de las normas y los procedimientos escogidos para controlar el cumplimiento de las condiciones en que se autoriza la entrada. En algunos Estados, esta responsabilidad está dividida entre los órganos encargados de la gestión de las personas, las mercancías, los buques y vehículos y las aeronaves. Sin embargo, puede haber también una superposición de responsabilidades. Por ejemplo, los oficiales de inmigración se encargan principalmente de la gestión de las entradas de personas y su estancia, pero algunos pueden estar también facultados para controlar mercancías y vehículos, si sospechan que pueda haber de por medio drogas, armas, víctimas de la trata de personas o el tráfico de migrantes o migrantes en situación irregular.

Los organismos encargados de la gestión de fronteras despliegan normalmente a sus oficiales en las fronteras o en las cercanías de estas. Aunque todas esas fronteras –terrestres, aéreas y acuáticas– están vigiladas y controladas, no todos los puestos de control fronterizos o pasos fronterizos tienen instalaciones y un personal de seguridad de fronteras asignado. En general, los lugares en que hay personal de seguridad de fronteras y existen instalaciones para controlar los pasaportes y los visados se denominan puntos de entrada y son los sitios en que se puede entrar legalmente en un país. A tenor del Reglamento Sanitario Internacional de 2005, un punto de entrada es “un paso para la entrada o salida internacionales de viajeros, equipajes, cargas, contenedores, medios de transporte, mercancías y paquetes postales, así como los organismos y áreas que presten servicios para dicha entrada o salida” (Reglamento Sanitario Internacional, 2005). Normalmente hay tres tipos de puntos de entrada: los aeropuertos, los pasos fronterizos terrestres (ferrocarril, carretera) y los cruces de fronteras acuáticos (puertos marítimos, fluviales y lacustres).

Article / Quotes
points of entry

A passage of international entry or exit of travellers, baggage, cargo, containers, conveyances, goods and postal parcels, as well as agencies and areas providing services to them on entry or exit.

Fuente

World Health Organization (WHO), 2005.

A POE, which is usually located at or near the borders, provides for the controlled entry into or departure from the State of persons and goods. The role of immigration officials at a POE is to provide the first point of contact for the administration of immigration laws for migrants and travellers entering or leaving the State. This is where the immigration authority serves a dual purpose of control and facilitation, checking (according to the law) to ensure that people crossing the border meet the requirements of the State’s legislation and ministerial directives, and preventing the entry of irregular migrants. At the same time, the immigration authority efficiently processes lawful movements, including screening/referring to those seeking international protection and addressing the needs of vulnerable migrants.

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Fuente

IOM/Ray Leyesa, 2012. 

Inspectors at POE, as is the case with consular officials issuing visas (see Visa application and processing), usually must make a number of decisions about arriving migrants in a relatively short period. Do the arriving migrants have permission to enter the country, either with a visa or via a visa waiver programme? Do they have legitimate documentation? Are they in need of specific support? Have the applicants been convicted of a crime or pose a security risk? Are the applicants likely to work without authorization? Are they likely to overstay the period authorized in the visa or inspection stamp? Do they pose a public health threat? Do the applicants have sufficient resources to support themselves during their stay? Have they expressed concern about their safety if they return to the country of origin? And so forth.

Depending on the assessment, the applicant for entry may be admitted or referred to secondary inspection and potentially be refused entry. These decisions may occur administratively or through a judicial process. A similar situation exists for those attempting to enter irregularly– that is, entry outside of the inspection process. This too can be by land, sea or air. If apprehended attempting irregular entry, migrants are put into proceedings to determine if they should be refused admission. If apprehended after entry, they may be offered voluntary return or put into removal proceedings. How long the process takes depends on systemic issues, such as the number of backlogged cases, the difficulties in arranging representation, and any issues related to an individual application (see Immigration enforcement).

Policy Approaches
Enhancing security and effectiveness at points of entry
  • Assess the population density around points of entry (POE), the volume and frequency of traffic (that is, travellers, cargo, conveyances). This information will help to shape and deliver targeted interventions while enhancing border security.
  • Consider designating joint POE with a neighbouring country.
  • Make use of signage to effectively direct and channel travellers and to enhance the quick handling of arrivals and departures while reducing risks.
  • Developing an integrated border management approach between maritime, air and land-based governmental institutions to increase the timely sharing of information and coordinated procedures for enhanced border security.
  • Post immigration officials amongst the queuing travellers to assess any suspicious behaviour by engaging with individuals of interest before they present at the counter.
  • Set up effective reception and screening systems so that migrants can be referred to the appropriate authorities and partners depending on their needs, ensuring that migrants’ rights are protected.
  • Increase government officials’ understanding of transnational organized crime and border security through border management information systems (BMIS). Border officers can use BMIS in two ways: to check against the database in order to detect transnational organized crime; to collect and share migration data as a basis for creating evidence-based risk profiles.
Control y verificación de documentos

Al entrar a un Estado, las personas deben presentarse en el servicio de control de inmigración para el control y la verificación de sus documentos de viaje y otros documentos o, si procede, para solicitar la protección internacional. Esto se aplica a quienes llegan al país para una estancia breve (es decir, que no supere los 90 días en cualquier periodo dado de 180 días). Al llegar, los oficiales de inmigración pueden solicitarles que presenten sus documentos de viaje, así como un visado, el billete, pruebas de los fondos de que disponen para su mantenimiento, licencias, tarjetas de crédito, cuentas de la luz o el agua, avisos del pago de las tasas municipales, el número de teléfono y el correo electrónico, etc.

Por lo general, los documentos de viaje tienen que ser válidos hasta 90 días, y a veces hasta 180 días, después de la fecha planificada de partida del Estado al que se llega, y haber sido expedidos dentro de los últimos diez años. Algunas aerolíneas imponen también esta regla por iniciativa propia. La regla puede aplicarse incluso en casos de tránsito o de escala, pero algunos gobiernos extranjeros y aerolíneas la aplican de manera poco rigurosa.

Policy Approaches
Document checking upon entry
  • Establish procedures to process low-risk passengers who are unlikely to violate their conditions and entry and-or stay with minimal delay, and to ensure that passengers without authorization are denied entry – but refer those persons potentially in need of protection measures.
  • Strengthen the capacity of border officers to recognize impostors and identity fraud, counterfeit and fraudulent documents while examining the validity and integrity of travel documents, for example through the establishment of forensic laboratories and other inspection and verification equipment.
  • Ascertain that the intentions of the traveller align with the conditions of the visa or the authorization to enter.
  • Check that there has been no change in personal details/cancellation since the granting of the visa.
  • Make final admission decision.
  • Refer to the appropriate authority those persons potentially in need of protection measures, including victims of trafficking, unaccompanied children and other vulnerable migrants.
  • Refer for removal those persons who are denied admission in full respect of the principle of non-refoulement.

The key components for a border management framework are data, technology, trained personnel, anti-fraud and audit capability as well as strategic partnerships. This level of technological support may not be financially feasible or sustainable by many States. This highlights the need for collaboration between States to develop and share technological capacity, although it is not a substitute for appropriate legislation, well-designed procedures and trained and experienced staff.

Except for remote locations, border management processes are now operated in most countries through a border management information system (BMIS), which is a computerized system to collect and reconcile data on the movement of people (entry, exit, transit) together with passport and visa information. The BMIS allows governments to collect, process, store and analyse information on arrivals and departures. Using the system in real time allows border officials to form an accurate picture of cross-border movements and provides the ability to create evidence-based traveller risk profiles. As well, border officials can benefit from document examination laboratories as an additional source of strategic information (see Intelligence gathering and the role of technology). A watch list/non-entry control list function is a key component of any BMIS and is used to identify persons of risk to the State as well as to identify lost and stolen passports. If properly maintained and regularly updated, the BMIS also helps immigration officials to identify irregular migrants and trafficking in persons.

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Fuente

IOM, 2012. 

Along with other data applications such as advance passenger information (API) and passenger name record (PNR), a fully functional BMIS can expedite passenger clearance at the border and facilitate migration data management, intelligence and risk analysis. The use of such a computerized system speeds up the entry of trusted travellers (with minimal additional screening), and as well provides border inspectors more time to assess the risk of those who have not gone through this type of pre-screening and/or those who might pose a threat to national security (see Pre-inspection measures).

Governments have a dual responsibility to facilitate and control both the entry and the exit of travellers. Yet exit control mechanisms as part of border management are often overlooked, as the focus tends to be on entry rather than whether the person has left the country. Some countries do not have exit controls, so while they maintain records of arrivals, they do not know when individuals leave their territory. Increasingly, automated border controls, such as Smartgates discussed below are also being used as exit control systems through using facial recognition and biometrics.

Example
Automated border control and Smartgates

Automated border control (ABC) systems are increasingly used in many States. They use biometric recognition and authentication to reduce the congestion that is a result of high volumes of travellers. Smartgate systems use clearance procedures that require facial recognition, a fingerprint reader and a touch screen by which travellers, depending on the State’s entry and exit rules, submit their customs and immigration declarations. Additional data collected by the reading device are provided by an electronic chip in each e-passport, which is a travel document approved for automated processing by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Using an encryption key issued by the national e-passport against the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD), border authorities can decode the digital signatures recorded on the chip, thereby confirming the validity and integrity of a traveller’s travel document.

To Go Further
  • Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS).
    This information and data analysis system     collects, processes, stores and analyses traveller information in real time and across an entire border network. MIDAS can be integrated with national and International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) alert lists, e-visa, advance passenger information (API) systems and other interoperable applications.
  • VERIFIER Travel Document and Bearer (TD&B).
    This     document examination and verification system allows border control officers to detect fraudulent travel documents and impostors by analysing the match between the travel document and its bearer’s biographic and biometric data.
  • Document Examination Support Centre (DESC).
    This     guidance provides support to immigration and border control officials, as well as to travel document issuing authorities, whenever a suspicious document has been intercepted and further information is required to determine its legitimacy.
Tráfico transfronterizo y cruces informales

En muchos países son frecuentes los cruces de fronteras informales. Para algunos ciudadanos del Estado y sus vecinos residentes en entornos tradicionales de países adyacentes pueden requerirse arreglos especiales que permitan los movimientos transfronterizos temporales de corta duración, para situaciones como las bodas y los funerales, o el acceso a servicios médicos o a centros de educación, particularmente en casos de emergencia. En estas circunstancias, los ministerios pertinentes pueden autorizar a una autoridad competente del lugar a expedir un permiso de entrada para el tráfico fronterizo local a los ciudadanos y residentes de países vecinos, al margen de los requisitos exigidos normalmente para la expedición de visados. Para recibir estos documentos es necesario por lo general presentar la documentación de apoyo adecuada. Los consulados de los países de ambos lados de la frontera suelen expedir estos documentos gratuitamente.

En algunas fronteras terrestres, por ejemplo entre la República Centroafricana y Sudán del Sur, las fronteras están señaladas y existe un puesto de control fronterizo o paso fronterizo. Sin embargo, las personas cruzan frecuentemente la frontera en ambas direcciones, sin dificultades, para acudir, por ejemplo, a un hospital a un lado, o a un mercado, al otro. Los oficiales pueden pedirles esporádicamente un documento de identidad, si consideran necesario efectuar un control de la identidad legal.

Good Practice
Transborder short-term crossings

The need for informal border arrangements is increasing, globally. Such arrangements recognize the cultural, educational, health, trade, economic and practical needs of citizens living in close proximity in border areas to conduct short term visits to each other’s States. While case-by-case arrangements for informal crossings are welcome, there is a need for more systematic ways to address short-term border crossings. It is therefore recommended that States put into place arrangements ahead of time that allow for short visits with minimal disruption. The following are examples of temporary or visa-free entry schemes that operate between States to facilitate cross-border management for close neighbouring populations.

  • Rwanda. In accordance with bilateral and multilateral agreements with regional bodies and neighbouring countries, members of border communities are issued with border passes to allow them to conduct cross-border activities. These documents are issued free of charge and are valid for a maximum period of 7 days.
  • The Russian Federation and Latvia. This agreement allows people residing in border areas to visit without visa certain localities in the Pskov region of the Russian Federation situated no more than 30 km from the border.
  • Mexico and Belize. Belizeans do not require a visa to visit Mexico. This applies to the entire country from Chetumal to Tijuana with border cards  or Tarjeta de Visitante Regional (TVR). A person who intends to travel to border towns and villages of Mexico and Guatemala may apply to the Director of Immigration and Nationality Services for a temporary border permit (TBP) in lieu of a passport to leave and enter Belize. Only Belizean citizens are eligible for a TBP.
Circunstancias de entrada especiales: gestión de fronteras en crisis humanitarias

Durante las crisis humanitarias generadas por desastres pueden darse circunstancias de entrada especiales. Las vías de admisión complementarias comprenden los programas de admisión humanitaria, el patrocinio comunitario de refugiados, los visados humanitarios, la reunificación familiar, los planes de movilidad laboral, los programas de educación y otras modalidades (ACNUR, 2019; véase más información sobre las soluciones duraderas en Soluciones y recuperación.

Muchos Estados tienen programas humanitarios aparte para evaluar la posibilidad de admitir a determinadas personas. Es importante distinguir entre los visados humanitarios concedidos a las personas que han sufrido una discriminación sustancial equivalente a una violación manifiesta de los derechos humanos en su país de origen, y el caso de las personas que huyen de la persecución y solicitan asilo al amparo de la Convención de 1951. Algunas organizaciones internacionales, como la OIM y la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR), colaboran estrechamente con los Estados para facilitar el reasentamiento de ciertos refugiados como solución duradera.

Good Practice
Humanitarian visas in Brazil

Following an increase of Syrian asylum applications in Brazil from 2012 onwards, the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE) approved Resolution 17/2013, which established a special humanitarian visa to be granted to Syrians affected by the conflict. The resolution allowed Brazilian diplomatic missions to issue humanitarian visas to Syrians before their entry into Brazil and, once in Brazil, allowed these applicants to apply for asylum via a “fast-track” procedure. In 2015, CONARE renewed the resolution for two more years and signed a cooperation agreement with UNHCR to support Brazilian embassies in countries neighbouring Syria with the visa procedures. In September 2017, this resolution was renewed again for another two years.

Fuente

Jubilut, L. L., Sombra Muiños de Andrade and de Lima Madureira , (Forced Migration Review), 2016.

Humanitarian border management (HBM) describes the border operations before, during and after humanitarian crises, involving large-scale cross-border movements. The objective of HBM is to help prevent the closure of borders and to assist the international community in effectively responding to humanitarian needs. When adopted into national legislation, HBM enables States to make rapid policy decisions on humanitarian entry as situations warrant, including with regard to temporary protection visas. HBM interventions protect crisis-affected individuals, including their right to non-refoulement, while respecting sovereignty and security. Assistance to governments in building HBM capacity involves, among other things:

  • Putting in place standard operating procedures (SOPs) to address sudden changes in the number of cross-border movements;
  • Developing and implementing emergency preparedness and contingency plans;
  • Establishing referral systems to ensure vulnerable migrants are assisted in the fastest way possible;
  • Creating inter-agency cooperation mechanisms for a coherent response in the event of a crisis;
  • Ensuring that border management practices can adapt to the needs of the specific groups found within complex mixed-migration flows.
To Go Further
Mensajes clave

 

  • Un punto de entrada es “un paso para la entrada o salida internacionales de viajeros, equipajes, cargas, contenedores, medios de transporte, mercancías y paquetes postales, así como los organismos y áreas que presten servicios para dicha entrada o salida” (Reglamento Sanitario Internacional, 2005). Normalmente hay tres tipos de puntos de entrada: los aeropuertos, los pasos fronterizos terrestres (ferrocarril, carretera) y los cruces de frontera acuáticos (puertos marítimos, fluviales y lacustres).
  • Al entrar a un Estado, las personas deben presentarse en el servicio de control de inmigración para el control y la verificación de sus documentos de viaje y otros documentos o, si procede, para solicitar la protección internacional.
  • Un sistema de información para la gestión de fronteras es un sistema informatizado de recopilación y conciliación de datos sobre los movimientos de las personas (entrada, salida, tránsito), junto con información sobre los pasaportes y visados. El uso de un sistema de este tipo permite a los gobiernos recabar, procesar, almacenar y analizar información sobre las llegadas y las partidas en tiempo real.
  • Los cruces de fronteras informales son frecuentes. Por ejemplo, en algunas situaciones las personas pueden cruzar fácilmente y sin trámites la frontera de su país con un país vecino o contiguo para una actividad temporal o de corta duración (como la ida a un hospital o un mercado al otro lado de la frontera) en virtud de un arreglo especial. Los funcionarios podrán pedirles ocasionalmente un documento de identidad, si hay algún elemento sospechoso.
  • La gestión de fronteras en crisis humanitarias es el conjunto de operaciones realizadas en las fronteras antes, durante y después de las crisis humanitarias que desencadenan movimientos transfronterizos masivos. Correctamente aplicadas, las intervenciones correspondientes protegen a las personas afectadas por la crisis, incluido su derecho a la no devolución, respetando al mismo tiempo la soberanía y la seguridad nacional.

 

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