The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Travel Card provides individuals travelling for short-term business with faster and easier entry to economies of the Asia-Pacific region. Essentially, the visa allows individuals to enter certain countries for a period of up to 60 or 90 days without having to separately apply for a visa. An APEC visa is valid for up to 5 years from the date of issue and provides benefits such as access to fast-track entry and exit lanes at certain major airports.

To be eligible for the APEC Visa, you need to meet the following criteria:

• Passport
  Must hold a valid passport from an APEC economy
• Business Travel
  Must frequently engage in business travel throughout the APEC region
• Criminal Record
  Must have no prior criminal record

Please Note!

Each participating economy has the right to impose additional eligibility criteria on their applicants. For example, applicants who hold an Australian passport must be a CEO, Vice president or other senior official in order to be eligible. To view the specific requirements relating to your country of passport.

You can apply for an ABTC if you:

• travel frequently to an APEC economy (other than Australia or your place of residence) for business purposes
• have not been convicted of a criminal offence

To be eligible, you must be one of the following:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or regional or country head of a registered business entity
• an owner or director of a registered business entity
• a board member of a registered business entity
• CEO or CFO of an Australian-based business peak body
• a Vice President, Executive, Director, Senior Manager or similar
• an employee of a registered business entity nominated by the CEO, CFO, regional head, owner or director of the organisation. See the Pro-forma nomination letter (20KB PDF)
• a senior government official (defined as a member of the Australian Public Service who is at the Senior Executive Service level or above, or a state/territory equivalent)

Your business entity or Australian-based peak business body must be engaged in international trade or investment between APEC economies. See Business assessment below for details. If you are living outside Australia, you must have permission to live and work within this economy of residence. Applicants may be required to provide evidence of their work and residence permit with their application.

DHA will consider a business to be engaged in trade or investment between APEC economies if the business:

• has received an Export Market Development Grant from Austrade in the past five years
• has been a finalist in the Australian Export Awards in the past five years
• is listed on the current Forbes Global 2000 business list
• is an accredited Australian Trusted Trader

DHA might also consider a business to be engaged in trade or investment activities between APEC economies, provided the business is lawfully registered in the economy in which it is operating and is either:​

• trading goods, services or conducting investment activities between APEC economies, or
• if the business is a start-up operation

The application must provide supporting evidence.

Supporting evidence for a lawfully registered business (in the economy in which it is operating) might include:

• an Australian or overseas business registration certificate that can be verified with the issuing authority
• an Australian Business Number (if applicable)
• registration with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (if applicable)

Supporting evidence for a business that is trading goods, services or conducting investment activities between APEC economies might include:

• publicly available product/service information that identifies goods or services that the business trades internationally
• reputable business clients who receive a good/service from the business
• a copy of a lease or other document evidencing an address and location of an office of the business in another APEC economy
• a business licence or other document evidencing approval to establish and operate an office in an APEC economy

Supporting evidence for a business that is a start up operation, might include:

• clear evidence of viability
• sound business planning
• market research
• product/s or services to be traded
• reputable business clients
• news articles
• financial or other documents that might reasonably attest to the bonafide establishment of a start-up operation
• a letter of support from a recognised business peak body where a member who might not otherwise have available evidence that they are a start-up operation