The General Agreement on Trade in Services (or "GATS") is an international agreement that falls within the World Trade Organization ( or "WTO") structure. As such, it is not an immigration law or a type of visa. Rather, it is an international agreement under which companies may rely upon to move employees across national boundaries. GATS sets the basic trade rules for its signatory countries. Each one of its Member States must set out clearly which parts, or "sectors", of its service markets under four "modes of supply" are open to foreign business. One of these modes of supply is the "Presence of Natural Persons", or the movement of personnel across international boundaries. Presence of natural persons consists of persons of one Member State entering the territory of another Member State to supply a service (e.g., accountants or IT professionals). The Annex on Movement of Natural Persons specifies, however, that Member States remain free to operate measures regarding citizenship, residence or access to the employment market on a permanent basis. For more general information on GATS, please click here to be transferred to the World Trade Organization's GATS information page.

The actual process involved will depend upon the country to which the employee is traveling and the legal requirements for obtaining a visitor visa for that country. Most countries have incorporated GATS' presence of natural persons provisions into their individual countries' immigration laws. Because of this, for many countries you will never even see the term "GATS" in their immigration regulations. There are, however, some countries that have separate GATS provisions, such as Canada.

There are currently 140 signatory countries under GATS (Click here for a partial list of signatories). In order to rely on the presence of natural persons provisions of GATS, the employee's home country, country of residence and country (s)he is traveling to must all be GATS signatories; although permanent residents of three countries, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland, may also rely on GATS. Moreover, the employee must be employed in one of the service sectors enumerated in the agreement.

GATS is one of the common Agreements relied upon to move businesspersons across national boundaries. Business visitors from signatory states may enter another signatory state for a period of up to six months as a business visitor for the purpose of attending business meetings, developing business contacts, establishing a business strategy, or negotiating an agreement for the sale of goods or services. As for all business visitors, GATS business visitors cannot be paid by the customer in the country the employee is visiting; nor can (s)he perform services as a business visitor. For this reason, a support letter should be prepared for every employee traveling across national boundaries on business, even if that employee is not required to have a visa. This letter will explain, if necessary, the basis under which the employee is entering the country, and help ensure that no problems arise with regard to that entry. It will also help ensure that the employee understands the limits of his/her activities within that country. An employee should also take brochures and/or promotional materials for both companies to demonstrate that both are well-established companies, as well as any documentation between the two companies outlining the scope of the employee's contractual obligations.

This category of GATS is designed to facilitate the transfer of executives, senior managers and specialists to Canadian-based operations that is a parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary of the employer. The employee must have been an executive, manager or specialist with the company for at least one year prior to the transfer. An intra-company transferee under GATS may enter another signatory country for a maximum of three years. Extensions for up to a total of five years may be obtained for executives and managers if such extensions are in the best interests of the country. Specialists cannot obtain any extensions beyond the three-year period. The definitions of "parent", "branch", "affiliate" and "subsidiary"; and "executive", "manager" and "specialist" are equivalent to the definitions used in the L1A and L1B categories under U.S. immigration law.

Professionals under GATS are individuals who have been educated and trained in one of the professional activities listed in GATS, and who enter a signatory country to perform professional services as part of a services contract to be performed by an enterprise in a member nation. All professions require at least a university degree. Many also require experience or licensing. For example, computer professionals require ten years' of computer experience. Another limitation of this category is that GATS professionals may enter a member country for a maximum of three months within a consecutive 12-month period. For these reasons, the professional category under GATS has limited applicability.