Thank you for your further enquiry.
Recognising the impacts of COVID-19, we note that in the previous two years international travel was affected by a number of restrictions but was not completely banned. A number of the 21 APEC economies, including Australia, introduced border entry requirements relating to international travel, however, many of the 340,000+ APEC Business Travel Card holders continued to travel and take advantage of the scheme during this time, including Australian ABTC holders.
No automatic extension facility exists in any of the member economies that I have been made aware of. The validity of the five-year timeframe of the ABTC was decided and agreed by the 21 APEC member economies. Any changes to this component requires consensus agreement by the member economies in the relevant APEC sub-fora group, which in this case is the Business Mobility Group and then requires subsequent endorsement by the parent group – the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment.
Advice from the processing and administration section is that a new card application would be required in your case.
If we receive further similar requests from other ABTC holders seeking an extension, we will see they are passed on to the APEC Secretariat for consideration on the BMG agenda for the next meeting scheduled to occur between 7-21 August 2022.