Applications for General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Work Permits are subject to a charge, which is normally paid by the overseas employer. The GATS agreement is a special concessionary arrangement within the normal Work Permit rules enabling persons, whose employer does not have a commercial presence in the European Union (EU), to work in the UK on a service contract given to the Uk based employer by a UK based organisation. The concession is intended to facilitate access to UK service contracts by non-EU based companies or organisations who employ persons having high level professional skills whose entry to this country would otherwise be subject to visa and work permit restrictions.
The GATS agreement only extends to organisations of those countries who are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and who have signed up to the agreement. Please contact your nearest British Diplomatic post for further advice or go to the WTO website: www.wto.org.
Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
That the service contract must not exceed a period of 3 calendar;
That the person will not be permitted to stay in this country under this agreement beyond 3 calendar months in any 12 month period;
That the service provided must fall within one of the service sectors;
That the person must have the qualifications and experience;
The person should have spent 12 months in your employment, as a formal salaried employee;
The contract must have been awarded through an open tendering procedure or any other procedure that guarantees the bona fide nature of the contract;
Don’ts:
Apply for this unless you are a UK Based Employer awarded a Service Contract;
Allow the persons to start working in the UK without this visa;
That the UK resident employer is not a self-employed individual, or to employment agencies or similar organisations that do not formally employ workers but simply supply or hire them out.
