What do they do at customs? What kind of profession is customs?

Today's graduates know very well who economists and lawyers are, but what kind of profession “Customs Affairs” is and whether it is worth studying is a difficult question.

The job market is overcrowded with programmers, managers and psychologists, and there are not enough specialists in truly in-demand specialties.

So what are the features of the customs worker profession and what do you need to know about it?

What is the profession of a customs officer?

With a small amount of pathos, we can say that a customs officer is a person guarding the national security of an entire country.

This is a civil servant who controls the movement of various cargo, goods, and products both to our country and abroad.

His responsibilities also include collecting fees and duties. If a customs officer specializes in passenger transportation, then he monitors citizens’ compliance with state rules and laws relating to the movement and registration of arrivals and departures, as well as the import and export of goods.

This profession cannot be classified as hazardous; it also does not involve heavy physical activity. Suitable for both men and women.

The main responsibilities of a customs officer are:

  1. Identification and investigation of offenses.
  2. Work with documents.
  3. Work at a checkpoint (checkpoint).
  4. Carrying out inspections at airports, railway stations, customs points of hand luggage, baggage and documents of passengers and transported goods.
  5. Accounting and control of confiscated property.
  6. Search and registration of smuggled goods.
  7. Determination of fees and their collection.
  8. Carrying out preventive measures in the field of customs law.

Usually the career path begins with work as an ordinary inspector. Next come the positions of senior inspector and department head. Top career ladder may become a policy developer in the customs sector or the head of the government apparatus. Statistics show that most specialists remain at the entry level.

It is worth noting: in the field of customs, along with general professions, there are narrower positions of checkpoint officer, passport control worker, and department specialist.

Which universities in Moscow teach the specialty “Customs Affairs”

In Moscow there is an excellent base for training a future customs officer.

Faculty of specialty are present in the following universities:

  • MFLA Academy;
  • MSEI;
  • RosNOU;
  • RANEPA (budget places available);
  • REU im. G.V. Plekhanov (there is a budget);
  • RUDN;
  • MADI;
  • MGEI;
  • Moscow University named after S.Yu. Witte;

Universities in St. Petersburg with a specialization in “Customs Affairs”

In St. Petersburg, you can study to become a customs officer at the following institutes and universities:

  • SZIU RANEPA;
  • University at IPA EurAsEC;
  • SUAI;

What is the salary of customs officers?

According to statistics by region, the highest paid are the Moscow (50,000), Leningrad (43,000) and Samara (41,000) regions.

Average wage nationwide is 25,000. Consequently, the level of payment can drop to 18-20 thousand rubles.

At the same time, do not forget that as you gain experience, you can get 2 times more.

Pros and cons of the customs officer profession

The advantages of the profession are:

  1. Social significance.
  2. Benefits related to military service or work in government agencies (early retirement with a financial increase).
  3. Not the most difficult training.
  4. A higher education is not always required.
  5. Work contributes to the development of attention, memory, and acquisition of knowledge in various fields.
  6. Rare employment problems.

The disadvantages of the profession are:

  • stress and psychological pressure;
  • corruption in the field;
  • bureaucracy in the field;
  • frequent purges and staff turnover;
  • average salary;
  • There may be cases of threats to health and life from unscrupulous citizens.

Where to study to become a customs officer after 9th grade

In order to go to work in customs, it is not always necessary to obtain a higher education.

A teenager after 9th grade without education can get a job as a checkpoint or passport control employee, in the international customs department and at a customs inspection point.

If there is a goal, you can get the average professional education majoring in customs at many colleges in the country (for example, at the Capital Business College).

What subjects need to be taken

To enter a university for the specialty “Customs Affairs”, you must pass the following specialized exams:

  1. Russian language.
  2. Social science.
  3. Foreign language.

How to get a job at customs without work experience

Despite the fact that the profession is in demand, a graduate may face the fact that preference will be given to a person with experience. But this does not mean that getting a job in your specialty will be unrealistic.

Submit your resume to the HR department in person, look for vacancies on a competitive basis where you can prove yourself better.

In addition, if a student during educational practice If he has proven himself well, then such a specialist will not have problems with employment in the future.

Is it worth studying for a specialty in Customs?

To sum it up, we can say that this is not the most common profession. However, it cannot be called creative and exciting. This is difficult, monotonous work that can sometimes be dangerous and corrupt.

Despite the ideas about work, it is almost devoid of the romance of the highways. At the same time, working in the specialty “customs affairs” is certainly important. It makes our life safer. She is stable, well paid, in demand and respectable.

If a person feels the need to be needed by the country and is not afraid of difficulties, then this is the profession for him.

Do you remember the wonderful film “White Sun of the Desert” and its hero, customs officer Vereshchagin? There was no longer either a border or a country whose interests he stood guard over, and Vereshchagin still guarded his customs. “I don’t take bribes. I feel bad for the state!” – the catchphrase of this handsome strongman with principles and sovereign thinking has become the personification of the portrait of a real customs officer.

Remember the wonderful film “White Sun of the Desert” and its hero customs officer Vereshchagin in the magnificent performance of Pavel Luspekayev? There was no longer a border or a country whose interests he stood guard over, and Vereshchagin still guarded his customs, looking with disgust at the watermelons and black caviar that his wife fed him day after day. “I don’t take bribes. I feel bad for the state!” – the catchphrase of this handsome strongman with principles and sovereign thinking has become the personification of the portrait of a real customs officer.

This is exactly how principled and conscientious a person should be who guards state interests. Should be - this is the key phrase, since the portrait of a modern customs officer is very different from the “film” one. And it's not that modern world There are no Vereshchagins left, but the fact is that many young people choose the profession of a customs officer thoughtlessly. They are seduced by the supposed benefits, forgetting about the significance and features of this profession. Therefore, today we will try to talk about all the nuances, disadvantages and advantages of the customs officer profession, and we hope that this will help you consciously approach the choice of your future job.

Who is a customs officer?


Customs officer - an employee of the state customs service who monitors the movement of people, things, Vehicle, goods and other items across the customs border, as well as performing customs clearance and collecting customs duties.

The name of the profession comes from the Old Russian word tamga (seal, tax, duty), which in turn has Turkic roots. Note that in Ancient Rus' the customs was called mytney (from the word myt - the name of the payment collected by local princes). Story customs officer profession originates in ancient times, when the first foreign economic relations between states arose. It was then that the need arose to control goods and people crossing borders. This is what the very first customs officers did, and their activities have remained virtually unchanged since that time.

Today, as before, the job of a customs officer is to clear goods transported across the state border. The professional responsibilities of this specialist include:

  • registration of documentation for cargo;
  • cargo inspection at customs, screening of citizens at the airport or train station;
  • detection of contraband and goods prohibited for import or export;
  • work at checkpoints;
  • accounting of confiscated goods;
  • investigation of offenses in the field of customs law.

More specifically, the customs officer must check the documentation for the goods and draw up his own declarations, determine the country of import and export of the goods and determine the amount of duties and their quantity, allow the cargo and citizens to cross the border. By the way, the range of duties of customs officers is so wide that within the profession there are several narrow specializations that depend on the specialist’s place of work: checkpoint worker, passport control worker, international customs department employees, etc. Therefore, when crossing the border, citizens, as a rule, have to deal with a variety of representatives of this profession. It does not matter where exactly this border passes: at the airport, at the railway station or in the sea harbour.

What personal qualities should a customs officer have?

Customs officer's work is associated with certain risks and temptations that impose a number of requirements on representatives of this profession. Firstly, they must be distinguished by a high degree of patriotism, integrity and honesty. In addition, any customs officer must have such personal qualities, How:


I would also like to say something about intuition. It is visually very difficult to determine whether a person or vehicle is carrying prohibited cargo or not. But experienced customs officers do this according to some signs that only they understand, “pulling the thread,” gradually unwinding the ball. In doing so, they rely not so much on knowledge of psychology and practical skills, but on their own intuition.

Also, the customs officer is required to have impeccable knowledge of laws, legal and legal subtleties, rules for maintaining documentation and possession formal business style speech. Economic knowledge is also necessary for a customs officer, especially those related to trade turnover.

Advantages of being a customs officer

Ask any customs officer: what are the advantages of his profession. And you will definitely hear in response: of great importance for society. After all, it is customs officials who guard the country’s national security, preventing the import of contraband and preventing the free movement of terrorists.

Undoubtedly advantage of being a customs officer can also be called demand. As customs continues to expand as a result of increased trade volumes and the number of people crossing the border, young professionals will find it easy to find employment.

Customs officers have the right to benefits, for example, early retirement and a substantial increase in it. Customs officers involved in checkpoints, searching for contraband and prohibited goods are treated like military personnel and, accordingly, can count on the same benefits.

Thanks to the specifics of the job, a customs officer develops very well his powers of observation, analytical skills, intuition, memory and attentiveness. These qualities, without any doubt, are useful not only when performing professional duties, but also in Everyday life. And the skills and knowledge in the field of jurisprudence and foreign economic activity acquired while working at customs will allow a former customs officer to easily obtain a leadership position in a commercial enterprise.

Disadvantages of the customs officer profession


Foremost disadvantage of the customs officer profession– this is constant pressure from people who want to get around customs regulations, not paying duties or importing prohibited goods. We can say that almost every customs officer has the risk of encountering them. Not everyone can resist temptation, resist, and remain an honest employee under the pressure of this kind of temptation.

This leads to the next disadvantage of this profession - high staff turnover. According to statistics, in our country customs is one of the most corrupt systems, and only 2-3% of customs officers can be called crystal clear. Well, since our state is actively fighting corruption and regularly introducing more and more anti-corruption measures, the ranks of customs service employees are often “cleansed”.

The disadvantages of this profession are also associated with the psychological stress that exists in the work. The constant need to be fully prepared, to strain attention and memory can lead to nervous breakdowns, stress and prolonged depression.

Where can you become a customs officer?

To become a customs officer It is not at all necessary to have a specialized education. However, since this profession requires a large amount of diverse knowledge, the presence higher education in general is prerequisite. Knowledge and skills in the field of customs can be obtained through special courses.

But still, we recommend obtaining this profession at specialized universities, since in this environment graduates of customs academies are valued most of all. In addition, only highly qualified customs officers can count on fast career, especially if the education in the specialty “Customs Affairs” was received in such best universities Russia, How.

Good day, Dear blog readers! I decided to highlight today’s topic on the rather in-demand profession of a customs officer. And how to learn to be a customs officer. I’ll start with who this person is, with a specialty in customs affairs.

A customs officer is a person who is an employee of the national customs service who controls the process of transporting anything (people, things, vehicles, etc.) across the customs border. In addition, he is engaged customs clearance and withdraws customs payments.

Professional responsibilities of a customs officer:

  • Perform paperwork for cargo
  • Inspect cargo at the customs border, as well as people at train stations and airports
  • Find narcotic substances, and also prevent the import/export of prohibited items.
  • Work at a checkpoint (Checkpoint)
  • Keep records of seized goods
  • Investigate offenses in the areas of customs law

The profession of a customs officer is divided into mini-specialties, depending on the chosen workplace, such as:

  • Working checkpoint (Checkpoint)
  • Passport control worker
  • International Customs Officer
  • And others


How to study to become a customs officer after 9th grade?

  1. Necessary: school certificate(9 – 10 grade); result of the Unified State Exam (Unified State Exam) - Russian language, mathematics and social studies.
  2. Choose a university that teaches customs. Here is a suitable site: Russian higher education institutions, for choosing a university for the customs officer profession.

Nowadays, the specialty of a customs officer is considered the most in demand. If you apply on a budget basis (by competition), on average from 5 people per place.

You can study both full-time and part-time. Duration of training – 5 years. The cost of training on average is from 60,000 thousand rubles per year. The price may depend on the chosen university and.

In almost any university, after graduation it is possible to enroll in graduate school. For economic, management and legal specialties

Personal qualities of a customs officer

This job is quite risky and tempting. Therefore, a customs officer must be a patriot of his homeland, honest and principled. And:

  1. Sociable
  2. Observant
  3. Must have excellent intuition
  4. Attentive
  5. Neat
  6. Punctual
  7. Stress resistant
  8. Responsible
  9. Have good reactions
  10. Executive
  11. Diplomatic
  12. Must be able to perceive large amounts of information
  13. Tolerant
  14. Know well legal and legal laws
  15. Have competent speech.


The main advantages of the customs officer profession

The main advantage is to have great importance for society. After all, thanks to honest customs officers, the illegal entry of terrorists and smuggled goods is prevented. Demand also plays a huge role, this is due to the fact that trade is expanding, as well as the growth of citizens who cross the border. Therefore, get settled young specialist can be done with ease.

Benefits are provided, such as early retirement and a decent bonus. A customs officer working at a checkpoint who exercises control over preventing the import/export of illegal goods, etc. Equal to military personnel and entitled to their benefits.

Working as a customs officer with experience improves the skills of observation, memory, intuition and attentiveness. And having acquired abilities and knowledge in the foreign economic sphere and jurisprudence, upon retirement, you can special effort acquire the position of head of the company.


Disadvantages of the customs officer profession

The main and main disadvantage of the profession is that there is regularly pressure from unscrupulous citizens who try to smuggle/import an illegal item, who do not want to pay customs duties, etc.

With the development of society, requirements have arisen for the control of goods that cross the border, entering or leaving the country. The broker is responsible for the rules of these movements, document flow between counterparties, and control of the import or export of unauthorized goods. Customs from the word "tagma" - translated from Turkic as a mark under someone's property. The work involves high responsibility and analytical thinking, so it is necessary to obtain appropriate knowledge.

Where to study to be a customs officer in Russia

The Russian Customs Academy is the main institution where qualified workers are trained; it has branches throughout the country. But in general, where foreign economic activity is taught, any student can acquire the necessary skills, and the skills will come in practice.

Since the profession is currently quite popular, the budget department has a competition of five to eight people per place. In all major cities of Russia there are a sufficient number of organizations that train personnel. For example, in Moscow there are about ten universities with full-time and by correspondence provide this education. The minimum cost of the discipline is 60,000 rubles. The teaching concept covers both mathematical and humanitarian sciences. Applicants are accepted according to Unified State Exam results or internal testing, as well as:

  • persons with secondary education;
  • people with incomplete HE;
  • students of foreign universities.

Is it possible to study to become a customs officer after 9th grade?

A vocational professional education majoring in “customs affairs” can be obtained after the ninth grade in secondary specialized colleges where there is a department of logistics and foreign economic activity. The duration of study after the ninth grade is three years, requirements for in-depth study mathematics and Russian language, this is important for passing entrance exams.

If the applicant went to training courses, he is credited automatically. This method increases the chances of entering higher education. educational institution and receive a diploma in your specialty.

How long does it take to study to become a customs officer?

A higher educational institution trains specialists for five years, the cost depends on the form and prestige: full-time - 30,000 rubles, part-time 22,000 and evening costs 26,000 rubles. After graduation, students are offered postgraduate studies.

Seminars and trainings are often aimed at tactics for conducting foreign economic activity, rules for processing cargo in Customs Union and the EU. They study from three to five days, the cost is about 30,000 rubles.

Refresher courses are required during promotion. Many of them are for directors of foreign trade activities; they provide an opportunity to properly organize the conduct of business in the conditions of this type of work.

Is it worth studying to become a customs officer?

By order of the President Russian Federation Issues regarding the further employment of graduates are under special control at the expense of the federation budget. This makes it possible to obtain a position in the customs authorities in accordance with your specialty or qualifications. Organizing internships during their studies at the university helps students make up their minds.

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