Civil servant volunteers are to be drafted in to avoid chaos at airports and ports when public sectors workers walk out on strike next Wednesday.
Thousands of border agency workers are expected to join the industrial action on November 30 in protest against government pension changes.
Volunteers from across Whitehall are being asked to step in to try to avoid major disruption to passengers.
They are expected to mainly check the passports of travellers arriving from the European Economic Area and man “e-gates” where passengers use their biometric passports.
A UKBA spokesman told the BBC: “The security of the UK border remains our top priority and it is absolutely right we explore all options to ensure we minimise any disruption caused by planned union action.”
The government confirmed earlier reports that UKBA plans to fly some officials home from overseas positions to help deal with the strike.
Public and Commercial Services Union general secretary Mark Serwotka was reported as saying: “It’s an insult to hard-working border force staff that, in an effort to break a strike entirely of their own making, the government is scratching around trying to cover skilled work with volunteers with next to no training.”