Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Travel Card (ABTC)

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an intergovernmental grouping which aims to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. 21 countries and regions are members of APEC, and are referred to as member economies.
• APEC Business Travel Cards (ABTC) are issued to business people intending to travel to other APEC economies in accordance with the purposes of the organisation. The home economy will then issue an ABTC valid for travel to the economies which have approved preclearance for the business person.
• In order to be eligible for an ABTC, a traveller must be a national of a participating economy (or a permanent resident of Hong Kong who holds a valid travel document).
• An ABTC may be used in lieu of a visa to enter the APEC economies which have pre-cleared the cardholder, for visits of up to 90 days in duration (the exact length of stay granted varies by economy). Cardholders must also present their national passport or travel document to travel with an ABTC. An ABTC is generally valid for up to 3 years.
• 19 out of 21 APEC economies are full participants in the APEC Business Travel Card scheme. Canada and the United States of America are currently transitional members of the scheme, which means that these countries do not offer visa exemptions to cardholders, but do provide cardholders from all participating economies with faster passage through immigration at certain international airports. Holders of an ABTC must therefore obtain a visa to travel to Canada or the USA if required.
• An ABTC is a credit card size document, which will display on the front the name of issuing economy, a photograph of the holder, their full name, date of birth, sex, the ABTC card number and expiry date. The back of the card will display the number and issuing country of holder's passport or travel document, and a list of 3 letter codes for the economies which have pre-cleared the traveller. The card is only valid for travel to the countries listed on the card.

The APEC Business Travel Card Scheme member states are:

	Economy	Code	Membership status
	Australia	AUS	Fully participating
	Brunei Darussalam	BRN	Fully participating
	Chile	CHL	Fully participating
	China	CHN	Fully participating
	Hong Kong	HKG	Fully participating
	Indonesia	IDN	Fully participating
	Japan	JPN	Fully participating
	Malaysia	MYS	Fully participating
	Mexico	MEX	Fully participating
	New Zealand	NZL	Fully participating
	Papua New Guinea	PNG	Fully participating
	Peru	PER	Fully participating
	The Philippines	PHL	Fully participating
	Russia	RUS	Fully participating
	Singapore	SGP	Fully participating
	South Korea	KOR	Fully participating
	Taiwan (referred to as "Chinese Taipei")	TWN	Fully participating
	Thailand	THA	Fully participating
	Viet Nam	VNM	Fully participating
	Canada	CAN	Transitional member
	The United States of America	USA	Transitional member