Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Approval

Yes, you can submit fingerprints at TSA-certified international centers. Visit the TSA official website for information on the nearest approved locations.

We recommend starting the TSA clearance process at least 60 days before the start of your course. This allows sufficient time to complete all steps and receive approval. The TSA application review process generally takes 6 to 8 weeks after fingerprint submission. To avoid delays, we advise beginning the process as early as possible.

To maintain the validity of your TSA Determination of Eligibility, make sure your account information, including your visa and immigration documents, is consistently kept up to date during the TSA's five-year review period.

You are required to file a TSA Security Threat Assessment (STA) application every five years. This ensures you continue to meet the necessary criteria for access to secure areas and stay compliant with TSA regulations.

Yes, foreign nationals are required to obtain TSA approval to study in the U.S. We provide full support to our prospective students for obtaining TSA approval for the ATP-CTP course at ATP.Academy.

TSA – Transportation Security Administration. These are the same people who carry out passenger screening at US airports, for example. They also check and screen foreign students pilots and then approve them for flight training. After 9/11, all foreign students applying for a license from an FAA pilot are required to obtain a training permit from the TSA.  This is to prevent another catastrophe similar to 9/11.  All of the hijackers on 9/11 received flight training in the US to some extent. You must visit https://www.fts.tsa.dhs.gov/, to register and apply for training at a specific educational institution. IMPORTANT: When submitting an application, you must know exactly which flight school you will train at because you choose a service provider. If after the confirmation of TSA you decide to change the school – you will have to file a new application and pay a fee for the new ($130 for each application). If you apply for ATP-CTP and Type Rating, there will be two applications. After the TSA examines your application and they can confirm everything you will need to be fingerprinted. They can be handed in either with the police or with a special TSA agent.  A list of which can be found on the website above.

1. The TSA application process can take 6-8 weeks. You may view your application progression on the homepage of https://www.fts.tsa.dhs.gov/home  and see quickly you may be approved. Keep this in mind when planning the start of your training, because if you signed up for ATP-CTP and you decided to apply for TSA 10 days before the start of the course, there is a considerable risk that you will be unable to fly for a few weeks. Easily avoidable if there is some preparation! NOTE: you can not start SIM training without TSA approval but you can take ground school.
2. There are often problems with foreign last names. Sometimes they want the last name to be both in the pilot’s certificate and in the “Middle Name” field. Sometimes they want the name and last name to be together in the same “First Name” field. Have this in mind – how you wrote your name with the TSA will follow you everywhere; in a medical certificate, in a pilot certificate, in the results of a written test, in the FAA database, and so on. You must be careful with how you present your name because Americans attach great importance to bureaucracy. We know cases when the examiner refused to take exams because the medical certificate was written with a middle name, and the written exam did not have the middle name. If two “people” on paper do not coincide, then one paper is not valid and the examination can not be accepted (well, such logic is with the examiner).
3. Sometimes fingerprinting takes more than 1-2 days. Make sure you have 2-3 days between arriving in the US and starting your ATP program.