Case studies : Assistant immigration officer: John

In his day-to-day role, John has to visit either residential or business addresses following intelligence that people on the premises or employees may be in the UK illegally.

After completing a degree in emergency and disaster management at Coventry University, John realised that jobs in the emergency planning area are difficult to get without experience. He saw the assistant immigration officer role advertised on the internet and, thinking it looked appealing and would provide some good experience, he applied for it.

John chose a career working for the (UKBA) as he thought it would be a good way to gain experience in an operational role, as well as providing a pathway into other careers such as the police force or government departments like emergency planning units.

Since taking on the job role, John has realised that there are numerous opportunities within the UKBA. Options range from overseas work to good career progression and the potential to relocate within the UK. There are a variety of roles in the UKBA including casework, intelligence, criminal investigation and operational roles.

John had to do a five-week training course on powers and legislation and then a further week on arrest techniques before beginning his job. Now in his day-to-day role he has to visit either residential or business addresses following intelligence that people on the premises or employees may be in the UK illegally. As an arrest trained officer he has to investigate, arrest and detain subjects as required. This can produce large amounts of paperwork but overall John finds himself out of the office four out of five days a week.

John feels that although his degree wasn’t significantly relevant to the role, certain aspects of it have helped, especially in terms of gaining an overall understanding of the job, building up his confidence and developing good communication skills. Since joining the UKBA he has been on numerous training courses and gained lots of experience in areas such as trafficking, passport/ID forgery, critical incident training and working with children.

While the job doesn’t require any specific qualifications you do need to be able to communicate well and, as the role is similar to that of a police officer, you’ll be required to deal with difficult circumstances and hostile people.

John says he likes the fact that no two days are the same and he enjoys working with a wide range of people and being out in the community. The aspects which he dislikes are having to deliver bad news, and arresting people for removal from the UK. Although it’s hard to work on family removals, the organisation does provide support where it is needed.

In the future, John would like to be promoted and work abroad for a couple of years. As an assistant immigration officer, he says it's no secret that the pay isn’t amazing (about the same as a police officer during training), but this does increase significantly when you reach the next grade and in the meantime he finds the work extremely enjoyable.