ATAS Clearance

What is ATAS?

The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) was introduced on 1 November 2007 by the UK Government to stop the spread of knowledge and skills that could be used in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. At present, ATAS only applies to courses at postgraduate and PhD level.

Courses which are listed in ATAS require clearance and an ATAS statement is issued by the University when you have accepted your Unconditional offer and just before we issue you with an Admission letter and CAS statement. Please note you cannot apply for an ATAS until you receive an Unconditional offer from the University. ATAS Certificate must be applied for and received before a visa application is made.

Who needs to apply for ATAS clearance?

Students applying for the following course(s) at the University of Dundee will have to apply to ATAS for clearance:

• MSc Earthquake & Offshore Geotechnical Engineering (UKPASS code P037289)
• Certain research courses - your offer letter will confirm whether you require an ATAS certificate or not.
• Visiting Research Student - your offer letter will confirm whether you require an ATAS certificate or not.
• If you are doing an Undergraduate course that leads to a Postgraduate qualification - your offer letter will confirm whether you require an ATAS certificate or not.

How do I apply?

ATAS is applied for by a free, online application process. You should follow the instructions carefully before you make the application as the information requested in the process is very detailed and specific.

Please have the following information to hand for the ATAS application process:

• Your contact details
• Passport details
• Name and nationality of your spouse/partner (if applicable)
• Full details of all previous studies
• Your Unconditional offer letter from the University of Dundee
• Your official ATAS statement from the University of Dundee which includes:
  • Taught Courses - a list of modules you will be undertaking
  • Research Courses - a brief research proposal of your intended study. This needs to be a minimum of 5 sentences in length and explains exactly what you will be learning from their course.
  • All Courses - your course JACS code
• Full details of any previous or current employment
• Full details of published papers
• Previous ATAS applications
• Full name and contact details of 2 referees (first name(s) and family name).
  You must have known both of your referees for at least three years. At least one of these must be an academic from your country of origin.
• How you will be funding your studies

Please ensure that the text you enter on your application form is exactly the same as the text provided in the letter you received from the University with your project description and JACS code. If these two documents do not match, you may have difficulties when applying for your visa.

If approved, you will receive an email from the ATAS team which includes an attachment. This attachment is your ATAS certificate. You should print it out and enclose it with your visa application.

Notes on application

The process of applying for an ATAS certificate should normally take around 21 working days, but please note at peak times of the year this can take longer.

You can apply for an ATAS certificate up to 12 months before your course start date. An ATAS certificate is valid as long as the details of your course do not change.

You should allow for the ATAS application process timing when considering when to make your visa application.

Your visa application will be automatically refused if you need an ATAS certificate and cannot provide one at the time you apply.

Please note if you are applying to more than one university you will need an ATAS statement from each university, you cannot apply for an ATAS Certificate with an offer letter from one university and an ATAS statement from a different university.