The UK Border Agency is the border control

Border control

Border controls are measures used by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.The control of the flow of many people, animals and goods across a border may be controlled by government Customs services. Security is enforced by various kinds of Border Guards and Coast Guards...

 body of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 (UK) government and part of the Home Office

Home Office

The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency

Border and Immigration Agency

The Border and Immigration Agency was an executive agency of the British Home Office, created on 1 April 2007. The Agency assumed the responsibilities of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate for managing immigration control in the UK...

 (BIA), UKvisas

UKvisas

UKVisas was the executive arm of the British Government responsible for processing applications for entry clearance to the United Kingdom. It was an executive agency jointly run by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Border and Immigration Agency. On 1 April 2008, UKVisas was absorbed into...

 and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes and the payment of some forms of state support....

. The decision to create a single border control organisation was taken following a Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....

 report.
The agency is divided into three broad command structures, each under the management of a senior director:

• external controls including visa
  Visa (document)
  A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
  
   issue in overseas posts
• border
  Border
  Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
  
  s, including passport
  Passport
  A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
  
   and customs
  Customs
  Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
  
   controls
• internal immigration
  Immigration
  Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
  
   controls including asylum, management of applications for further stay and enforcement.

Its head office is 2 Marsham Street, London.