Australia

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) assesses Australian applications for the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC).  The following information is provided to enable prospective applicants to self-assess their eligibility for the ABTC and noting that a non-refundable processing fee of $200 is charged upon receipt of all applications.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the card, Australian applicants must first satisfy the following business-related criteria:

1. the applicant must be a senior executive level business person (see below); and
2. the applicant must be directly involved in the trade of goods and/or services or the conduct of investment activities when travelling overseas; and
3. the business entity (which the applicant represents) must be well-established and well-credentialed in terms of its international trade and investment activities;
4. the business entity (which the applicant represents) must demonstrate significant economic benefit within the APEC region from its business activities.

A senior executive level business person is someone at the highest levels of organisational management.  To be clear, only those people occupying the three highest management tiers of a large business enterprise, or the two highest tiers in medium-small enterprises would be eligible for the card (eg. Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Vice President, Regional Director, Division Head, or the equivalents).  These executives must also hold specific authority to commit to trade and investment activities, for example, to negotiate and sign contracts that result in the international purchase and/or selling of goods or services.

Equally as important, the applicant must satisfy DIAC that the business entity represented by the applicant is well-established and well-credentialed (ie. can demonstrate a track record for being a reputable and well-known company engaged in trade and investment activity internationally), and can demonstrate that its business has made a significant economic contribution within the APEC region. A significant economic contribution to trade and investment, as a minimum, would be measured in the several millions of dollars per annum (any information provided to DIAC in support of this will be treated as Commercial-in-Confidence).

Please be aware that DIAC will require a registered Australian Business Number or Australian Company Number, and will conduct a range of business checks and internet-based searches to satisfy itself concerning all of the eligibility criteria and to verify claims against these criteria.  In addition, business cards, organisational structure charts or other evidence of an applicant's senior executive status will be required with an application form and will be used by DIAC to verify seniority and the nature of the applicant's business activities while travelling overseas.

Renewal Applications

The process for renewing an APEC Business Travel Card is exactly the same as making an initial application. Australia is obliged to re-assess applicants against all of the current eligibility criteria, conduct criminal history checks and, if approved, enable all participating APEC economies to re-assess the applicant for pre-clearance purposes. It may take many weeks for Australia to finalise its assessment processes, and then potentially some months for all participating APEC economies to finalise their assessment for pre-clearance purposes.

Processing Fee (non-refundable)

A non-refundable processing fee of $200 will be charged to Australian applicants for the APEC Business Travel Card.  This processing fee covers the administrative costs to assess and process an application and is payable regardless of whether an application is ultimately approved or declined.

Reasons for Refusing Applications

Applications are commonly refused for the following reasons which reflect the strict business-related criteria outlined above:

• the position occupied is not sufficiently senior;
• the applicant is primarily performing a support role rather than being directly engaged in the selling, sourcing, negotiation and formal agreement to trade and invest.  Some examples of support activities are training, legal advice, interpreting, systems development, quality assurance, post-sale support/implementation;
• the applicant’s activities relate to the internal administration of a business entity (eg. human resource directors, recruitment director, financial directors, auditors, risk managers, technical managers);
• the application contains insufficient information available for DIAC to be satisfied in relation to all of the eligibility criteria. (The onus is on the applicant to provide sufficient information at the time of application.);
• the business is new and cannot demonstrate that it is well known and well credentialed;
• the business cannot demonstrate that its business activities generate significant economic benefit within the APEC region.

Other reasons for refusal include:

• the applicant falls into one of APEC’s specifically excluded professions for the ABTC (currently professional athletes, news correspondents, entertainers, musicians, artists);
• the applicant provides false or misleading information;
• the application form is incomplete or fails to provide mandatory information;
• the applicant is found to have a criminal conviction which is not permitted under the ABTC scheme.

Australian Application Form

100 Point ID Check

Information about Passport Renewals

Check your Card status online!

Online information for Australian citizens

For further information contact:
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Email: abtc@immi.gov.au