General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) work permit arrangements are for Bulgarians and Romanians whose employer does not have a commercial presence in the European Union. The arrangements enable these workers to work in the United Kingdom on a service contract awarded to their employer by an organisation based in this country.

GATS applications are made against the following criteria:

• the service contract must not exceed a period of three calendar months;
• the person will not be permitted to work in this country under this agreement for more than three calendar months in any 12-month period;
• the person must have the appropriate qualifications and experience;
• the person should have spent 12 months in employment with the employer;
• the agreement does not extend to self-employed individuals, or to employment agencies or similar organisations that do not formally employ workers but simply supply or hire them out; and
• the contract must have been awarded through an open tendering procedure or any other procedure that guarantees the genuine nature of the contract.

Additionally, the service provided under the service contract must be in one of these sectors:

• legal services;
• accountancy services;
• book-keeping services;
• taxation advisory services;
• architectural services, urban planning and landscape architectural services;
• engineering services;
• integrated engineering services;
• advertising;
• management consulting services;
• services relating to management consulting;
• technical testing and analysis services;
• translation services;
• site investigation services.