Customs and Border Protection Officers
Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Law and Government
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- Administrative
- Computers and Electronics
- Geography
What the work involves
- Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S.
- Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
- Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise.
- Interpret and explain laws and regulations to travelers, prospective immigrants, shippers, and manufacturers.
- Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations.
- Record and report job-related activities, findings, transactions, violations, discrepancies, and decisions.
- Institute civil and criminal prosecutions and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of those in violation of immigration or customs laws.
- Testify regarding decisions at immigration appeals or in federal court.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (39% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (48.4%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (27.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Customs and Border Protection Officers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 33-3051 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 87% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 98% of occupations compared | 82% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 78% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 50% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 97% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 93% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.42%
- Contact with others most of the time: 10.11%
- Constant contact with others: 86.47%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 1.62%
- Very important: 16.45%
- Extremely important: 81.93%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 2.08%
- Important: 6.78%
- Very important: 22.03%
- Extremely important: 69.11%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 6.75%
- Limited freedom: 7.84%
- Some freedom: 43.84%
- A lot of freedom: 41.57%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Time pressure
- Never: 6.92%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.47%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.39%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.8%
- Every day: 41.41%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Conflict situations
- Never: 3.42%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 20.03%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.53%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 6.95%
- Every day: 51.07%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.08%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 23.85%
- Every day: 59.39%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 8.18%
- Fairly serious: 4.95%
- Serious: 10.45%
- Very serious: 9.31%
- Extremely serious: 67.12%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2012
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O*NET-SOC 33-3051.04 · SOC 33-3051 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8