Controls imposed on internal borders within a single state or territory include measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders through border controls.
Background
Internal border controls are measures implemented to control the flow of people or goods within a given country. Such measures take a variety of forms ranging from the imposition of border checkpoints to the issuance of internal travel documents and vary depending on the circumstances in which they are implemented. Circumstances resulting in internal border controls include increasing security around border areas (e.g. internal checkpoints in America or Bhutan near border regions), preserving the autonomy of autonomous or minority areas (e.g. border controls between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak; border controls between Hong Kong, Macau, and mainland China), preventing unrest between ethnic groups (e.g. Northern Ireland's peace walls, border controls in Tibet and Northeastern India), and disputes between rival governments (e.g. between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, temporary internal border controls were introduced in jurisdictions across the globe. For instance, travel between Australian states and territories was prohibited or restricted by state governments at various points of the pandemic either in conjunction with sporadic lockdowns or as a stand-alone response to COVID-19 outbreaks in neighbouring states. Internal border controls were also introduced at various stages of Malaysia's Movement Control Order, per which interstate travel was restricted depending on the severity of ongoing outbreaks. Similarly, internal controls were introduced by national authorities within the Schengen Area, though the European Union ultimately rejected the idea of suspending the Schengen Agreement per se.
Examples Asia Internal border controls exist in many parts of Asia. For example, travellers visiting minority regions in India and China often require special permits to enter.
India Permits issued for minority regions in India include: Restricted Area Permits and Protected Area Permits for foreigners in portions of north-eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Inner Line Permits for Indian citizens
China In the Tibet Autonomous Region (Tibetan: བོད་རང་སྐྱོང་ལྗོངས།; ), two categories of permits are issued: The Tibet Travel Permits ( foreigners' entrance letter) required for all foreigners (as well as Taiwanese nationals from the Republic of China) to enter the region The Alien Travel Permit required for holders of the Tibet Travel Permit to travel outside major urban and tourist areas of the region The Military Permit (or Border Permit) is required for travel to Ngari (Tibetan: མངའ་རིས་ས་ཁུལ་; ), Nyingchi (Tibetan: ཉིང་ཁྲི་ས།; ), and Nagqu (Tibetan: ནག་ཆུ།; )
Additionally, special permits are issued to nationals of India and Bhutan for religious pilgrimages to Hindu and Buddhist holy sites in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Internal air and rail travel within non-autonomous portions of India and mainland China also generally require travel documents to be checked by government officials as a form of the 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 Nepali 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. Foreign nationals need to present their passports or other required types of travel documents when travelling between these jurisdictions. For Chinese nationals (including those with British National (Overseas) status), there are special documents for travel between these territories. Internal border controls in China have also resulted in the creation of special permits allowing Chinese citizens to immigrate to or reside in other immigration areas within the country.
China also maintains distinct, relaxed border control policies in the Special Economic Zones of Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen. Nationals of most countries can obtain a limited area visa upon arrival in these regions, which permit them to stay within these cities without proceeding further into other parts of Mainland China. Visas for Shenzhen are valid for 5 days, and visas for Xiamen and Zhuhai are valid for 3 days. The duration of stay starts from the next day of arrival. The visa can only be obtained only upon arrival at Luohu Port, Huanggang Port Control Point, Fuyong Ferry Terminal or Shekou Passenger Terminal for Shenzhen; Gongbei Port of Entry, Hengqin Port or Jiuzhou Port for Zhuhai; and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport for Xiamen.
Similarly, China permits nationals of non—visa-exempt ASEAN countries to visit Guilin without a visa for a maximum of 6 days if they travel with an approved tour group and enter China from Guilin Liangjiang International Airport. They may not visit other cities within Guangxi or other parts of Mainland China.
Neither the People's Republic of China nor the Republic of China recognizes the passports issued by the other and neither considers travel between mainland China and areas controlled by the Republic of China as formal international travel. There are arrangements exist for travel between territories controlled by the Republic of China and territories controlled by the People's Republic of China.
More generally, authorities in mainland China maintain a system of residency registration known as hukou (), by which government permission is needed to formally change one's place of residence. It is enforced with identity cards. This system of internal border control measures effectively limited internal migration before the 1980s but subsequent market reforms caused it to collapse as a means of migration control. An estimated 150 to 200 million people are part of the "blind flow" and have unofficially migrated, generally from poor, rural areas to wealthy, urban ones. However, unofficial residents are often denied official services such as education and medical care and are sometimes subject to both social and political discrimination. In essence, the denial of social services outside an individual's registered area of residence functions as an internal border control measure geared toward dissuading migration within the mainland.
Bhutan Meanwhile, in Bhutan, a microstate accessible by road only through India, there are interior border checkpoints (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 must obtain both their visa and any regional permits required through a licensed tour operator prior to arriving in the country. Citizens of India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives may apply for regional permits for restricted areas online.
Vietnam The Hộ khẩu system in Vietnam is similar to the Hukou system in mainland China. Local authorities issue each household a "household registration book" or sổ hộ khẩu, in which the basic biographical information of each household member is recorded. The sổ hộ khẩu is the ultimate legal proof of residence in Vietnam. Together with the "citizen identification card" or giấy chứng minh nhân dân/căn cước công dân, the sổ hộ khẩu constitutes the most important legal identification document in Vietnam. Modelled after the Chinese hukou system and originally used in urban areas only, hộ khẩu functioned as a way to manage urban growth and limit how many people moved, as well as who moved in and out of the cities.Hardy, Andrew. "Rules and Resources: Negotiating the Household Registration System in Vietnam under Reform". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 16, no. 2 (October 2001): 187–212. Gradually, the system became a universal method of control as its application expanded to the countryside.Hardy, Andrew. "State Visions, Migrant Decisions: Population Movements since the End of the Vietnam War In Postwar Vietnam: Dynamics of a Transforming Society, edited by Hy V Luong. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2003. Presently, the system defines four types of residence, KT1 through KT4. KT1 is the primary and permanent type of residence and denotes a person's primary residential address. People moving on a semi-permanent basis to another place within the same province or national municipality (within Saigon, for example) need to register for a KT2 residential status at that new address. If this same move happens across provincial borders, then the person has to sign up for a KT3 registration. For migrant workers and students temporarily residing outside of their province or national municipality of permanent residence, they need to apply for a KT4 registration. Navigating this matrix of regulations is tough. But the public security apparatus that manages the hộ khẩu system is also difficult to deal with, especially if one is a poor migrant worker with little to no formal education. Yet hộ khẩu remains absolutely crucial, especially for the poor. It is tied to access to welfare benefits, and, in the case of children, the right to attend public school.Abrami, Regina and Nolwen Henaff. "The City and the Countryside: Economy, State and Socialist Legacies in the Vietnamese Labour Market". in Reach for the Dream: Challenges of Sustainable Development in Vietnam, edited by Melanie Beresford and Tran Ngoc Angie, 95–134. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press, 2004. For a migrant family in Saigon with no KT3 or KT4 registration, subsidised medical care, poverty assistance, and almost-free schooling are all out of reach. Much like its counterpart in mainland China, the denial of services outside an individual's place of registered residence resulting from this system of internal border control serves to dissuade internal migration.
Malaysia The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, 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.
North Korea 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.
Israel