APEC Business Travel Card

[albatross710]

I have recently had travels in Vietnam and Philippines with both countries offering inbound and outbound ABTC lanes. Vietnam time saving is of the order of 60-90 minutes inbound when compared to my colleague plebs. Just means I got to stand outside waiting for them. Philippines time saving probably 30 minutes. Veit Nam also has the advance of the money saving on the visas.

When I arrived back to BNE there was a backlog on the automated gates so I diverted down the APEC manual processing channel. The agent questioned me as to why I hadn't first tried the automated gate. Anyway, I was soon on my way.

 

[Kangol]

Peru and Brunei received the day following issue.

It's Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam that I am really waiting for, as they are the ones with notoriously slow immigration.

The Aircrew/Diplomat lanes in SYD are just as 3rd world slow as the rest of the lanes.

How does it work re approvals, you get them country by country, and only once you have received it for a specific country, you can use the APEC lane in that country?
Did you put any particular countries you wanted priority for?

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Applied for my 4th APEC card 3 months ago... still "Reviewing".

Meanwhile, folks in the country I live in are approved within a week of application.

AuStRaLIa

 

[pauldab]

How does it work re approvals, you get them country by country, and only once you have received it for a specific country, you can use the APEC lane in that country?
Did you put any particular countries you wanted priority for?

You get approved by each country on their own processing timeline based on when they choose to go through applications which is why you see a lot of difference here for some posters tracking their application.

Once the country appears as approved in the online checker it will be reflected in the app and you can use the virtual abtc to enter those countries.

There is no “priority” for getting approval, you are able to select up to 5 countries for a provisional card to be sent once all 5 (plus whatever others had already approved) but this only applied for the physical card. Now there is the virtual abtc and approvals appear literally straight after they are processed.

The selection of the 5 countries for the provisional card has zero influence for the speed of approval of any country.

 

[Kangol]

You get approved by each country on their own processing timeline based on when they choose to go through applications which is why you see a lot of difference here for some posters tracking their application.

Once the country appears as approved in the online checker it will be reflected in the app and you can use the virtual abtc to enter those countries.

There is no “priority” for getting approval, you are able to select up to 5 countries for a provisional card to be sent once all 5 (plus whatever others had already approved) but this only applied for the physical card. Now there is the virtual abtc and approvals appear literally straight after they are processed.

The selection of the 5 countries for the provisional card has zero influence for the speed of approval of any country.

Thanks. I recently applied, so here's hoping it won't take too long.

What is the online checker, the ImmiAccount page when logged in?
Mine just says "Received".

 

[pauldab]

Thanks. I recently applied, so here's hoping it won't take too long.

What is the online checker, the ImmiAccount page when logged in?
Mine just says "Received".

It's not in Immiaccount, you will receive an email with your to the ABTC application number and a link to the pre clearance checker.
The same applicaiton number is used to login to the virtual ABTC app and can be accessed once you receive that email.

 

[Daver6]

You get approved by each country on their own processing timeline based on when they choose to go through applications which is why you see a lot of difference here for some posters tracking their application.

Once the country appears as approved in the online checker it will be reflected in the app and you can use the virtual abtc to enter those countries.

There is no “priority” for getting approval, you are able to select up to 5 countries for a provisional card to be sent once all 5 (plus whatever others had already approved) but this only applied for the physical card. Now there is the virtual abtc and approvals appear literally straight after they are processed.

The selection of the 5 countries for the provisional card has zero influence for the speed of approval of any country.

Given there is no physical card sent out any more, there really isn't any point for the concept of selecting countries for a provisional card.

 

[doc]

Applied for my 4th APEC card 3 months ago... still "Reviewing".

Meanwhile, folks in the country I live in are approved within a week of application.

AuStRaLIa

My latest card was approved in just over a week. Perhaps something wrong with your application (and/or you?)

 

[doc]

Once the country appears as approved in the online checker it will be reflected in the app and you can use the virtual abtc to enter those countries.

There's 2 different levels. Once you've approved for the card, you can use the priority (APEC) lines at all airports. Once you've approved for the specific economy, you can also use the Visa-free benefits (which for most Australians are only relevant for a smaller number of countries).

 

[Kangol]

There's 2 different levels. Once you've approved for the card, you can use the priority (APEC) lines at all airports. Once you've approved for the specific economy, you can also use the Visa-free benefits (which for most Australians are only relevant for a smaller number of countries).

Thanks, good to know.

What are the "more valuable" visa-free benefits for Australians?

Found this list showing the permitted duration per visit.
However it looks like for the 4 countries where there is "-" under Entry Mechanism, there are no visa-free benefits - unless I'm mistaken.
So for Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia and Vietnam, the only advantage is the fast lane access - no visa-free benefits and the normal rules apply.

https://www.apec.org/docs/default-source/groups/bmg/2026/abtc-economy-entry-information-table.pdf?sfvrsn=192a36b_1

 

[doc]

However it looks like for the 4 countries where there is "-" under Entry Mechanism, there are no visa-free benefits - unless I'm mistaken.

As long as you've approved for an economy, you get visa free entry for 90 days when travelling for business. The only general exception to this are the US and Canada which are only "transitional" members of the program and don't include the visa-free benefit (although you'll never be pre-approved for them, so even then they aren't really exceptions). Russia is also an exception at the moment if I'm not mistaken.

Some countries extend that visa-free for tourism as well, but not all (as per the sheet you've linked to).

As far as "more valuable", it depends when you're travelling. Historically China was a big win as getting a visa was time consuming and had a cost - but now Australians can travel there visa free it's obviously less of a benefit. I recently had a short trip to Indonesia where having an ABTC saved me a few tens-of-dollars, but more so saved me the annoyance of having to apply for an e-visa.

Personally the real benefit is the separate queue. Over the past few months I've saved several hours of time using that across Thailand/Korea/Japan/Taiwan (and one time it even saved me about 60 seconds in Singapore when there was a line at the egates!)

 

[Kangol]

As long as you've approved for an economy, you get visa free entry for 90 days when travelling for business. The only general exception to this are the US and Canada which are only "transitional" members of the program and don't include the visa-free benefit (although you'll never be pre-approved for them, so even then they aren't really exceptions). Russia is also an exception at the moment if I'm not mistaken.

Some countries extend that visa-free for tourism as well, but not all (as per the sheet you've linked to).

As far as "more valuable", it depends when you're travelling. Historically China was a big win as getting a visa was time consuming and had a cost - but now Australians can travel there visa free it's obviously less of a benefit. I recently had a short trip to Indonesia where having an ABTC saved me a few tens-of-dollars, but more so saved me the annoyance of having to apply for an e-visa.

Personally the real benefit is the separate queue. Over the past few months I've saved several hours of time using that across Thailand/Korea/Japan/Taiwan (and one time it even saved me about 60 seconds in Singapore when there was a line at the egates!)

Interesting, thanks.

It says here: "lists the economies you can enter and stay in (for a period of up to 60 or 90 days, depending on the economy) without separately applying for a visa".
I suppose the "60 or 90 days" for each country depends on the table in the previous link (which also looks like Mexico allows 180 days).

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/business-travel-card/overview