On 7 February 2005 the Home Secretary made an announcement explaining that as part of its five year strategy on Immigration and Asylum, the Government intended to phase out all low-skilled immigration routes, including the Sectors Based Scheme (SBS). To allow employer's time to adapt to this change it was agreed that SBS would continue to operate until 31 December 2006 . It has subsequently been agreed that as part of EU preference the SBS arrangements will be retained for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals when those countries join the European Union on 1 January 2007 .

The SBS arrangements for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals will continue to operate in the food manufacturing sector. SBS only covers those posts within a given sector that are recognised as difficult to fill within the UK and are specified in the SBS guidance notes.

The original SBS arrangements allowed employers in this country to recruit people from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to fill vacancies that they were unable to fill with resident workers. Where these permit holders are still employed in the UK they retain their rights to extension and change of employment applications within the original criteria of the SBS route.

With the exception of applications made in respect of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals, applications for SBS are subject to charge. The payment guidance leaflet below provides further details of the charge and the process that needs to be followed when making an application.