Scientific Method / Science & Exploration

UK to conduct more stringent checks on foreign scientists

Taking a leaf from the US' book, the UK is to conduct better screening of visa …

It might come as no surprise that, following 9/11, the US has been taking more notice when it comes to issuing visas. This has had quite an impact in the sciences, as more than half of the postdocs and a large number of grad students are foreign residents living and working in the US on F, J, and H1-B visas. Depending on the country of origin, obtaining a visa can be now be much harder, and there has been a decrease in the numbers of foreign scientists applying to come and work in the US, a concern highlighted in last year's Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 report.

Other countries were picking up the slack and benefiting from the US losing out, by opening their doors to these scientists, but as so often, where the US leads, others will follow. This time it's the UK, where the Academic Technology Approval Scheme is going to come into effect. This scheme will require non-EU citizens who wish to work on proliferation-risk subjects to be approved by the Foreign Office before a visa will be granted. In effect, the system will work like the Visa Mantis system in the US.

Depending on how the system is implemented in the UK, there could be long delays in processing applications from countries like India and China who are still the largest exporters of scientific manpower. Although the government have not said, it is likely that friendly western nations such as the US, Canada and Australia will be subject to less scrutiny.

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