Today's national launch of the UK Border Agency is expected to bring faster and more effective security checks at airports, but passengers at Leeds Bradford will not see the new systems until later this year.

The Border Agency merges 25,000 Immigration Agency, HM Revenue and Customs and UK Visa staff spread over 135 countries. It will focus on combating smuggling, immigration crime and border tax fraud.

But the new agency's envisaged integrated border system has only been implemented in a handful of airports across the country, and Leeds-Bradford continues to operate without substantial change.

It and the rest of the country's international points of entry will only switch over when new legislation is passed by Parliament in the autumn.

The new agency will not look any different anywhere until its new uniforms are introduced.

Chris Hudson, regional director for the Borders Agency in Yorkshire & Humber, said: "We have obviously had systems in place for some time but this is a really important strengthening of those systems and the formation of a single cohesive agency which will be able to make our borders more secure."

He said a lot of work remained to be done before the full benefit of the new agency was felt, but that passengers would notice significant changes over the next year.

"Currently, travellers go through passport control and then the customs area," he said.

"Bringing these two together will enable us to look at people and goods at the same time.

"As of now we are able to move into the operational phase but there is a lot of work still to do.

"The public will see some changes over the course of the year. There are several flagship ports and airports which will be fully operational as of now. Uniforms will be introduced later this year."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the new agency's ability to use all the powers of the organisations it was merging would strengthen the country's borders.

"UKBA officers will be better equipped than ever to guard our ports and airports, protecting the country from illegal immigration, organised crime and terrorism," she said.

"This new 25,000-strong force will work both at home and abroad to tackle smuggling of people and goods into Britain using intelligence, new technology and wide-ranging powers, and I am confident it will help strengthen policing at the border."