Students heading to the UK for higher education this fall will now have to encounter certain major changes in the visa regulations that have come into effect since October-November, 2007. Apart from some specific security regulations, changes have been introduced in the visa application form as well. Universities and consultants are doing their bit to enlighten aspirants on this aspects but students themselves must also carefully understand the regulations before taking the plunge in order to avoid future hassles in future.

What's new?

One major change that has come into effect is the introduction of the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS). UK has launched the ATAS with a view to stop the spread of knowledge and skills that are likely be used in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). ATAS aims at ensuring that people applying to study certain sensitive subjects do not have links to WMD programmes. Under the UK Immigration Rules, postgraduate students who are not nationals of the European Economic Area (Including Switzerland) or who are not entitled to enter or remain in the UK by virtue of the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, who intend to study for a certain postgraduate qualifications in science, technology or engineering based courses in the UK are all required to hold a valid ATAS Clearance Certificate. The Certificate should be obtained before applying for a Visa, Entry clearance (EC) or Extension of stay (EoS). However having an ATAS certificate does not guarantee a Visa/EC/EoS, but the application will automatically be rejected if an applicant who requires an ATAS certificate would take around three weeks to get processed and is completely free of charge. So is it safer to get an ATAS certificate from several universities?

Shailender Silamsetti, director, Career Bridge Consultants says "Students should ask the university clearly whether the courses they have applied for needs an ATAS certificate. If it does, then they must apply for the certificate only when one has an unconditional offer in hand. So it is advisable to finalise the university one planes to study in before applying to ATAS and not waste time in applying for a number of ATAS certificates for different universities."

Minor Changes

Some other minor changes have also been introduced in the visa application form. Earlier there used to be a common application form for anybody applying for a UKvisa, but the new form titled 'Student Form (VAF3 OCT 2007)' is applicable for visa applications filed after October 31, 2007, specifically for students and their dependants. This new form is more elaborate and requires information on certain areas. For instance, in case of information on funding, a student has to give even minute details like the date of birth and nationally of the sponsor and also explain in why he/she is funding.

Again, in case one is leaving a job in India and moving to UK for higher education, one has to justify his decision with detailed with detailed reasons. But there is nothing really to panic, as the process in expected to become easier now with detailed guidelines provided in the form itself. Shailender says, "Before filling up the form, students must carefully refer to the guidelines provided at the end of the form, to ensure that the information one fills in is accurate, since incorrect information may delay the process. There are in fact examples provided as guideline against each criterion on the form, hence students needn't worry at all."

If one still faces difficulty in filling up the form, one can approach the British Council, the British High Commission or visit the Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) website for clarification of doubts.