The present invention relates to a broadband wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method for performing a handover through zone-switching. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the method in which an advanced mobile station (AMS) performs a handover from a legacy serving base station through zone-switching in a broadband wireless access system comprises: a step of receiving, from a legacy zone (L-zone) of a target advanced base station (ABS), a message of a response to a request for ranging (RNG-RSP), containing information on a zone-switching time: and a step of starting switching to an advanced mobile station support zone (M-zone) at the point of time indicated by the information on a zone-switching time.