The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) applies to all international students and researchers (apart from exempt nationalities) who are subject to UK immigration control and are intending to study or research at postgraduate level in certain sensitive subjects.
The subjects and research areas are limited to those where knowledge could be used in programmes to develop Advanced Conventional Military Technology (ACMT), weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or their means of delivery. Researchers and students in these sensitive subjects must apply for an ATAS certificate before they can study or conduct research in the UK. This resource is intended to provide guidance to hiring/line managers of research staff who are subject to the ATAS requirement, as well as hosts of academic visitors.
If you need to apply for an ATAS certificate because you are a new/existing member of staff or you're planning to visit the University to carry out research, please refer to our Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) for Academics/Researchers webpages instead.
If you need to apply for an ATAS certificate for the purposes of your programme/course of study, please refer to the Student Immigration Service ATAS webpage for more information.
You can find a detailed explanation of the ATAS application process on the Government’s webpages.
When an ATAS certificate is needed
An ATAS certificate will be needed for your new/existing member of staff, or for your academic visitor, if all five of the following criteria are met:
- Role Level - they will be carrying out research (for work/academic visit purposes) at PhD level or above
- Subject Area - the subject area of research falls under one of these academic subject (CAH3) codes; and
- Role Type - their role is sponsored or categorised under one of these Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes
- Nationality - they are not a citizen of one of the following countries: EU/EEA countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States of America
- Visa Application Type - they need to apply for, or already have, a Skilled Worker visa (for employees), Temporary Work - Government Authorised Exchange visa (used predominantly for visiting academics/researchers), Standard/Academic Visitor visa, or Student visa.
ATAS certificates for new members of staff
As part of the offer process in Stonefish, you'll be asked to identify the relevant (CAH3) code for the subject area of the research being undertaken.
If the area of research is subject to the ATAS requirement, you'll then need to provide a research statement, which the applicant will use in their ATAS application. The summary should be written in the third person and not make any reference to the individual carrying out the research. Rather, the research statement should include information on the scope and application of the research, and the experimental tests and methods/techniques which might be used. You may include complex technical details, where appropriate.
The Staff Immigration Team will then use this information to provide the appropriate documentation, guidance and support to the applicant so that they can apply for their ATAS certificate.
ATAS certificates for existing members of staff
If you have a member of staff in your team who previously needed to obtain an ATAS certificate as part their onboarding to the University, there may be instances where they'll need a new ATAS certificate.
They'll need to obtain a new ATAS certificate if:
- they are planning to extend/renew their Skilled Worker visa
- their job title changes, including through academic promotion and researcher progression
- the content of the research project or the project scope changes
- they start work on a new or different research project to the one referenced in their original ATAS application
- the financial sponsor or conditions of financial sponsorship changes at any time during the research programme (for clarity, ‘financial sponsor’ and ‘financial sponsorship’ means, for externally funded roles, the funding body, and conditions of funding)
It's important as part of your responsibilities as a line manager to ensure none of the above actions take place before the member of staff receives their new ATAS certificate.
Please reach out to the Staff Immigration Team for support, including in cases where any other changes are planned and you aren’t sure if this will trigger the need for a new ATAS certificate.
ATAS certificates for visiting academics/researchers
If you’re planning on hosting an academic visitor to the University whose area and level of research is subject to the ATAS requirement and they’re not an exempt national, they’ll need to apply for an ATAS certificate.
If they're applying for a Standard Visitor visa, they won’t need to provide an ATAS certificate as part of their visa application, but they must receive their ATAS certificate before any research activities begin.
As the host for the academic visitor, it is your responsibility to ensure that any visitor who is subject to the ATAS requirement is not permitted on-site until you have seen a copy of their ATAS certificate, and you're satisfied that the research statement aligns with the intended scope of planned research activities.
If your visitor needs a Government Authorised Exchange visa (Temporary Work) for their visit, they’ll need to obtain an ATAS certificate before the Staff Immigration Team will issue their Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to them.
Prior to inviting an overseas visitor to the University, it's important that you understand what you need to do and also what types of activity they can do while they are here. Please visit our Inviting overseas visitors to the University guidance for further information.