Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)

If you have trouble registering and creating an application, first try registering online from a different computer or with a new login email address. Alternatively, try using a different web browser.

The ATAS website works best in Google Chrome and Internet Explorer version 5 and above.

The FCDO have reported that students using email servers 126.com, 163.com, sina.cn and qq.com may have difficulty receiving messages from them and recommend the use of Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, or similar commercial email providers, if possible.

You can use your Cardiff University email address without issue if you already have access to this.

Your CAH3 code will be on your Cardiff University offer letter.

If you are a continuing student and your original offer letter does not have a CAH3 code, contact your school administrator for the CAH3 code required for the ATAS application.

Your ATAS application is linked to your passport.

Therefore, if you plan to obtain a new passport before applying for your visa you should wait until you have your new passport before applying for ATAS clearance.

If you use a different passport number for your ATAS and Student visa applications, your visa application is highly likely to be refused.

The passport details in the ATAS application cannot be changed after the application has been submitted.

Enter the title only and it should exactly match the title of your course as stated on your offer letter and CAS.

For example; ‘MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering’ or ‘Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering)’.

PhD students will need to enter information about their proposed area of research.

This should be at least 5 lines in length and agreed with your PhD supervisor in writing. It will be provided to you on your offer letter under the title ‘ATAS Research Statement of Purpose’.

An ATAS certificate is issued for a specific programme with a named university. You will need to apply for new ATAS clearance if:

• you need to extend your Student visa to allow additional time to write up your thesis/for your VIVA/due to resits/any other reason. In this case, you will need a new ATAS even if the extension is for under 3 months
• your course details change, including the course length by more than 3 months – please note you must apply for a new ATAS certificate within 28 days of the change to your programme, irrespective of whether you need to apply for a new visa or not
• the area of research or modules change
• you move to another institution

In the ‘Undergraduate / Postgraduate studies’ section, the form will ask you whether you have ‘undertaken any undergraduate or postgraduate studies’.

This refers only to courses at university level that have been completed. You are not required to provide information about your high school education.

If you are applying for an extension for the same continuing course, please note that only details of completed courses should be provided in this section.

Make sure that you state that you are continuing the same course and include your original start date in the course description section.

You must provide employment details since you left school, including any paid work and any long-term voluntary (i.e. unpaid) work.

You do not need to provide information about temporary jobs you have done during university vacations.

Select' No' in this section if you have not undertaken any employment as mentioned above.

The ATAS guidance asks you to provide the ‘full names and contact details of 2 referees (First name(s) and Family name). You must have known each of your referees for at least 3 years. At least one must also be an academic from your country of origin’.

The FCDO does not require that your referees are able to speak English.

If you cannot provide referees from your home country because you have completed your education in another country, this should not be an issue. In this situation, provide two referees from your most recent studies.

This section is about any financial sponsorship that you have for your studies and living costs.

This may be an organisation or the name of a person. If you are self-funded for your studies, write your name and address in the sponsor section.

The form asks if there are any ‘conditions of your offer’ for financial sponsorship. An example of a condition of your offer is that you are required to return overseas after completing your course, or you must provide regular reports about your progress. Include any conditions your sponsor has imposed here.

If you have more than one financial sponsor, make sure you include them all in this section.

You will need to submit a new application.

There is no option to expedite an ATAS application.

You should not contact the FCDO or Student Visa Support regarding your application if it is still within the normal processing time of 20 working days during low periods and 30 working days in peak periods from July to October.

If your application exceeds this time period, first contact the FCDO at ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk informing them of the delay. Make sure that you include your application reference number. Allow a minimum of 10 working days for a response.

If you continue to hear nothing from the FCDO, contact Cardiff University Student Visa Support through Student Connect with the following information:

• your student/applicant number
• your ATAS reference number
• your expected decision date (this will be stated on your online ATAS application)
• the date you emailed the FCDO

We will follow this up with the ATAS team.

However, unfortunately, there can be lengthy delays in contacting ATAS during the peak period, and we, unfortunately, are extremely limited in what we can do.

Early application is very important to get your clearance in time.

If you are applying overseas and are a new student, you will need to have your ATAS clearance certificate before you apply for your student visa. You must wait to receive it. If the ATAS delay prevents you from applying for your visa in good time, you may need to defer the start date of your course.

If you are applying within the UK for a new course, you will not be able to enroll on your course until the ATAS clearance certificate is issued. Therefore, you need to have received your ATAS clearance and have applied for your student visa online by your latest enrolment date as stated on the CAS. Contact your school to discuss your options if you are unable to do so: it may be viable to extend this date or you may need to defer your studies. Contact Student Connect for support with your visa application while you await the ATAS. Do not wait until your ATAS clearance is issued to contact us as it may then be too late for us to assist.

If you are applying within the UK to continue the same course, you can continue studying while the ATAS application is being processed. You will need to make sure that you submit your Student visa application BEFORE your existing visa expires. If your visa expiry date is approaching and you have still not heard from the FCDO, contact Student Connect for support with making your visa application in time. It will be important to ensure that you are aware of all timeframes and risks in submitting an extension application prior to the issuance of new ATAS clearance.

We advise submitting your ATAS application early and advise the above only when absolutely necessary.

If your application is successful, you should receive an email from the FCDO with the ATAS certificate attached to the email address that you used to register.

You should check your spam or junk folders regularly to ensure the email has not been filtered out.

You must read your ATAS certificate carefully to check that the details on it are correct.

Your ATAS clearance certificate details, including the passport number and course description, must match the details on your official documents and record.

If they do not, then your visa application may be refused, and you will not be able to enroll on your course.

Make sure that you check your certificate carefully when you receive it and that all details match. If you find an error, check your original application to establish if you made the error or if it has been made by the FCDO.

If the error is on your side, you will need to make a new application.

If the error has been made by the FCDO, contact them on ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk as promptly as possible.

Contact Student Connect if you do not hear back from the FCDO after 10 working days.

If ATAS is refused and your course requires ATAS then you will not be granted your student visa nor be permitted to enroll on your course.

Where an application for ATAS is refused, unfortunately, this presents limited options. The FCDO will not provide any reasons for the refusal to you or to us, and so it is difficult to challenge or address this. You can take the following actions:

• request a review by contacting ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk, and further information will be included in the refusal notice
• submit a new application but note the challenge here is that without knowing the reason for refusal, it is difficult to adjust your application to be successful, think about the purpose of ATAS clearance and try to address anything that could be an issue
• consider changing your course of study to one that does not require ATAS