APEC Business Travel Card: the opportunity to travel the world without visas

Any businessman can become a participant of this program in the country of residence, contacting the competent authorities to obtain a special card, which gives the right to visa-free travel to the countries participating in the APEC forum. 

The main purpose of the APEC card is to simplify and accelerate the procedure of crossing the border when entering and leaving the APEC member countries. 

APEC card gives the right to regular business trips to the following countries without visa: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Chile, Japan.

The USA and Canada are temporary members of the APEC Business Travel Card system (there is no agreement now, the entry using the APEC card is not available). 

The order of the issuance and use of cards for business travel to the APEC member countries is regulated by the APEC Business Travel Card Operating Framework ( www.apec.org), the Russian Government Decree as of October 2, 2009 №773 «On the participation of Russia in the system for business travel to the APEC member countries "and the Presidential Decree as of June 5, 2012 № 777 "On the order of entry into Russia and exit from Russia for foreign citizens, holders of cards for business travel to the APEC member countries." 

The APEC card may be issued to the honest entrepreneur, or the head of the legal entity, who has not been convicted of committing a crime and performs the activities related to the business trips directly to the APEC forum member countries. 

The competent authorities of all countries participating in the APEC forum carry out the approval of the candidate on obtaining the APEC card. Countries, provided the permission to the cardholder, are listed on the backside of the card. This is necessary to ensure that airlines and border guards can quickly determine whether the cardholder is permitted to enter the country. 

The APEC cardholder presents the card at airports of participating countries on arrival and on departure. Countries may also require the cardholder to present a passport and an entry / exit card (migration card), at that, in case of prior approval, other visa documents are not required. When crossing the border, the cardholders may be checked in database containing the information on foreign APEC cardholders. 

The APEC Business Travel Card does doesn’t give the right to work in these countries. When crossing the border, it is recommended to have a letter from partners in the country of destination, confirming the business purpose of the trip. Duration of stay on such cards in APEC countries is regulated by local legislation. 

Countries participating in the forum ensures cardholders the minimum stay in the country for 2 months and the maximum stay for 3 months, depending on the features of the immigration laws of each APEC country. 

In accordance with Russian law, the period of stay of foreign citizens in Russia is not more than 3 months, herewith the total period of stay of foreign citizens in Russia is not more than 90 days per each period of 180 days.

Foreign citizens, the holders of the cards issued by the competent authorities of the APEC member countries, enter Russia in order prescribed by the law. At the same time, it ensures the priority passage of the border control at checkpoints across the state border of Russia.

In accordance with Clause 1 of the Decree of President of Russia as of 05.06.2012, № 777 "On the order of entry into Russia and exit from Russia for foreign citizens - holders of cards for business travel to the APEC member countries", foreign citizens, holders of cards for business travel to the APEC member countries with the code “RUS” on the back side of the card, may enter and exit Russia without a visa on the basis of the card and the actual documents proving their identity and recognized in Russia. 

APEC Business Travel Card is issued for a period of 5 years. The APEC Business Travel Card for Russian citizens is divided into temporary and permanent. The process of issuing a temporary and permanent card is the same and runs in parallel. The applicant prepares one set of documents and pays the necessary fees once. The period for issuing a temporary card is about 4-6 months; however, the card does not include visits to the following countries: Australia, Japan. A permanent card is issued to the applicant after receiving a positive response from Australia and Japan approximately 1-2 years after the request for the APEC card. In practice, it is almost impossible to get a positive response from Japan now. 

The sample of the APEC card is available here. 

Confidence Group provides services for APEC card receiving. Please find below the stages, cost and terms of the services required to apply for an APEC card:

Please note that the APEC card processing time has been increased at the moment and may take from 12 months or more, since the applicant's candidacy must be approved by the competent authorities of all APEC countries.

The duration of stay on such cards in the APEC countries is regulated by local legislation. In the table below you can find the list of countries that can be entered using such cards and the period of stay. Please note that the period of stay can be changed, please clarify the information before planning your trip:

To apply for an APEC card and for other services, contact the Confidence Group consultants.