A method for determining whether a mobile station (MS) is present in coverage of a serving base station (SBS) during a handover process and an apparatus for carrying out the same, resulting in the implementation of more reliable handover, are disclosed. A method for controlling an MS to perform a presence check procedure during handover of a broadband wireless access system includes receiving a first signal for a presence check request from an SBS, and transmitting a second signal as a response to the presence check request to the SBS. Preferably, the first signal is received after the lapse of a first time indicating a deadline at which the MS performs network re-entry to a target base station (TBS).