The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS)

Whether you need an ATAS certificate depends on your specific area of study. You will receive an in-tray message from Admissions if your course requires ATAS clearance. 

For more information about which subject areas and qualifications need an ATAS certificate, check on the UK Government website.

If you are studying one of these courses, you need to apply for an ATAS certificate before you make your application for a Student visa. 

You will need to show your ATAS certificate when requesting a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from Queen Mary. 

If you have any other type of immigration permission, you still need an ATAS certificate before you can start the course if your course requires ATAS clearance.  

The following groups do not require ATAS clearance, even if their course of study is said to require one:

• Nationals of EU/EEA countries and Switzerland, USA, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and Australia;
• People who have Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR); or
• People who are exempt from immigration control.

You should make an application for ATAS clearance through the gov.uk website.

Refer to our step-by-step guide in completing an ATAS application - Step-by-step guide_ATAS_Jul 2026.docx [DOC 56KB].

It can take 30 working days (six weeks) for an ATAS application to be processed and sometimes longer during busy periods. We recommend that you apply as early as possible. 

There is no charge for applying for an ATAS certificate and you can apply for as many certificates as you have offers, so long as the courses have different CAH codes or are from different universities.

You must include a copy of your ATAS certificate with your visa supporting documents if you are applying for a Student visa for an applicable course.

If you are a new student, check the in-tray message/email from Admissions with the subject line "ATAS clearance - Important Information" after receiving your offer. In the middle of the email, it will state the specific CAH code and ATAS synopsis for your programme.

If you are a continuing student:

• For continuing taught students, please ask your school/institute. They should have a set CAH code and synopsis for each programme that requires ATAS clearance.
• For continuing research students, your CAH code and synopsis should be visible on your MySIS account.

When in doubt, check with your school/supervisor first. If they are also not sure, contact the Immigration Compliance Team (immigrationcompliance@qmul.ac.uk).

For postgraduate research new students, you can email research-admissions@qmul.ac.uk. 

You must copy directly the CAH3 code and synopsis from the information provided to you by Queen Mary. 

You may have to apply again if the CAH3 code and/or synopsis on the ATAS certificate is different from the ones supplied by the university.

You must provide at least 2 referees on the ATAS application form:

• Both referees must have known you for a minimum of 3 years.
• At least one referee should be an academic referee.
  • At least one of the academic referees should be from your undergraduate university.
  • If you will be studying at university level for the first time, you may use a high school teacher who you have known for at least 3 years as an academic referee.
• At least one referee from your home country would be preferable.
  • When that is not possible because you live outside of your home country, you can provide referees you have known for 3 years from the country/countries of your residence.
• If you have work experience, you can include a professional referee (i.e. a referee from your employment).
• Do NOT use friends or family as your referees.

If the application is not yet submitted, you can click the “Edit” button and make any necessary changes on the form before submission.

If the application is already submitted, you’ll not be able to make any changes (except email address, phone number, and marital status). The ATAS Team has said they will not be updating live applications on behalf of applicants. Therefore, in most cases, you’ll have to make a new ATAS application.

If your passport expires or is lost whilst your application is being processed, the ATAS Team will update your application. Email ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk, include your ATAS reference number and a scan of the biographic page of your old and new passports.

If you have not had a response from the FCDO, check your junk/spam folder, in case it has been filtered out. You can also contact the ATAS Team at the FCDO (ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk) if it is more than 30 working days since you applied.

Sometimes ATAS applications take longer than the service standards, so it might take more than 30 working days to receive your certificate. Please rest assured that the ATAS Team are working as quickly as possible to process ATAS applications. They process applications in the order they are received. 

You can contact us if you have been waiting for an ATAS decision for more than 3 months. Please note however that we are not currently receiving responses from the ATAS Team more quickly than applicants and any interventions on our part may cause a delay to the processing of your ATAS application. We recommend that you wait for the outcome of your application. We are not able to speed up a decision on your ATAS application.  

If you are making your visa application in the UK and your existing permission is due to expire within three weeks, and you have applied for your ATAS certificate that is still pending, you can contact us for guidance.  

If you are a PhD student, you will not be able to enrol remotely until you have received your ATAS clearance. If you are unable to receive your ATAS certificate and/or visa decision before the start date of your course, speak to your supervisor about deferring the start date of your course. There may be some flexibility with when you can start your course, but do check any funding implications if you are sponsored too.

If you have been granted an ATAS certificate, but something has changed during your studies, you will need to apply for a new ATAS certificate with your new details within 28 calendar days of any such changes being agreed. Relevant changes include if: 

• You change your programme and your new programme also requires ATAS approval. You must have obtained the new ATAS approval before starting the new programme. 
• The completion date stated on original ATAS application is postponed by more than three calendar months, e.g. you need to re-sit a failed module or if your research takes longer than expected. 
• Changes to your course, e.g. changes to your research proposal, your programme content (modules), or your main/primary supervisor.

If you need a new ATAS certificate, we recommend that you apply for your new ATAS certificate as soon as possible, so that you will know if you will be allowed to complete your studies. 

In certain scenarios you may be able to ask the ATAS Team to make specific changes to an existing valid ATAS certificate, for example when you have renewed your passport. Email ATAS@fcdo.gov.uk, include your ATAS reference number and a scan of the biographic page of your old and new passports.

Students whose course is extended/deferred within 3 months of the original course dates entered on the ATAS application do not need a new ATAS certificate.

Students also do not require a new ATAS certificate if they have switched from Student permission to permission in another category, providing the course remains the same.

Your ATAS certificate will be valid for six months. The 6-month validity will be stated on the ATAS certificate.

You must submit your Student visa application within this six-month period. 

Unfortunately, universities and individuals are unable to ascertain the reason for an ATAS refusal, because the UK government considers it a matter of national security. 

You will have the option to request a review within 30 days of ATAS refusal. For the case to be reviewed, you need to go through the review request process. You should have received the instructions on how to do this when you received the notification of refusal. 

In your review request, you should include a detailed statement from yourself including at least the following information: 

• Your previous studies and how these relate to the studies you are due to undertake; 
• Why you are interested in studying in this specific subject area; 
• Details about the research you will undertake at Queen Mary agreed with your proposed supervisor (if applicable); 
• What you intend to do after you have completed your course, and where 

For research students, you could attach a letter from your supervisor on headed paper with your review request. This letter could include such information as why you were given an offer for this course at Queen Mary and academic information about your research proposal with details about how you will conduct your research. If your supervisor has previously supervised PhD students researching similar topics, they could include an explanation about what these students are doing now, if they have this information.  

Please note that we are not aware of any Queen Mary students who have successfully challenged an ATAS refusal. Appeals are presently taking an average of 2 months to process.

If your review request is not successful, you do have the option to reapply for ATAS clearance. Whilst it is possible that a reworded research proposal or change of research topic could result in the grant of ATAS clearance for research programmes after a refusal, it is rare. 

Since February 2024, refused applicants have been blocked for a period of 90 days from resubmitting an application for the same CAH, area of research and institution. Applications submitted within the 90 days for another course, or another institution are still permitted.

Queen Mary will support one challenge or an additional ATS application after refusal. Any subsequent applications may not be supported by QMUL.

If your review request is unsuccessful, you also have the option to seek legal advice about applying for judicial review of the decision.