UK passport control for Dover will now be based in France

Passengers travelling to Dover through Calais and Dunkirk will have passports checked before they leave France.

If passengers do not have the correct documentation, they will not be allowed to begin their journeys to the UK.

Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes says tightening border controls has already halved asylum claims.

Moving the border

The deal between the UK and French Governments is intended to intercept illegal immigrants before they arrive in Dover.

The reciprocal arrangement means that French border police will make checks on the UK side of the Channel.

The system has already been used on the Eurostar and Eurotunnel cross-channel services, and is claimed to have greatly reduced the number of people arriving without proper passports or visas.

"We are effectively moving our borders across the Channel. UK immigration officers will be able to stop would-be illegal immigrants even before they set off for the UK," said Ms Hughes.

The government says the move is the latest stage in a "radical package" of measures which has halved the number of asylum seekers.

Other measures have included closing the Sangatte refugee camp, tightening security at the Channel Tunnel and using scanning equipment that can find people hiding inside vehicles.

Ms Hughes also said there were intelligence-led efforts to tackle organised gangs of "people smugglers".