trippin_the_rift
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10,000 travellers lose APEC Card
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10,000 Aussie business travellers stripped of APEC cards
If you’re one of the 30,000 Australians who rely on an APEC Business Travel Card to travel without a visa and fast-track through immigration queues – sometimes with access to airline crew and diplomatic lanes – you’d better check that your precious card is still valid.
As many as one-third of Australia’s APEC cardholders have been stripped of the cherished card due to the introduction of tighter eligibility criteria. But those who fail to meet the new standards have not been told their plastic passes are now less useful than the loyalty card from their local cafe.
Full article here:
10,000 Aussie business travellers stripped of APEC cards - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller
If you’re one of the 30,000 Australians who rely on an APEC Business Travel Card to travel without a visa and fast-track through immigration queues – sometimes with access to airline crew and diplomatic lanes – you’d better check that your precious card is still valid.
As many as one-third of Australia’s APEC cardholders have been stripped of the cherished card due to the introduction of tighter eligibility criteria. But those who fail to meet the new standards have not been told their plastic passes are now less useful than the loyalty card from their local cafe.
Full article here:
10,000 Aussie business travellers stripped of APEC cards - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller
Last edited by a moderator:
wtolmie
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Re: 10,000 Aussie business travellers stripped of APEC cards
so nice.. but how does one check the status of their card ? It seems you can only check status if you have an application # >?
im flying back to Thailand Friday..
I entered my original application # on the status page and it says im pre-cleared (have had my card since 2009).
so nice.. but how does one check the status of their card ? It seems you can only check status if you have an application # >?
im flying back to Thailand Friday..
I entered my original application # on the status page and it says im pre-cleared (have had my card since 2009).
Last edited:
AnonymousCoward
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As far as I can tell, there's no way for an immigration checkpoint to validate that your card is actually valid (other than sighting the expiry date, and the permitted countries on the reverse).
I think the article is saying, that out of the previous 30,000 card holders, 10,000 would no longer meet the new criteria. When your card comes up for renewal, you will not be able to renew. Happened to some colleagues of mine who tried to renew last year. Even though they are fairly senior in ACN - they are not eligible.
I think the larger the company you work for, the harder it's going to be to renew (due to the requirement to be in the top 'x' levels of your org chart) - even though large MnCs would probably be doing the most cross-border business.
Edit: article quotes Lisa McAuley who seems to have no idea how these cards work (you're not treated as a citizen of any remote country, and definately more than one person per company can be issued one)
I think the article is saying, that out of the previous 30,000 card holders, 10,000 would no longer meet the new criteria. When your card comes up for renewal, you will not be able to renew. Happened to some colleagues of mine who tried to renew last year. Even though they are fairly senior in ACN - they are not eligible.
I think the larger the company you work for, the harder it's going to be to renew (due to the requirement to be in the top 'x' levels of your org chart) - even though large MnCs would probably be doing the most cross-border business.
Edit: article quotes Lisa McAuley who seems to have no idea how these cards work (you're not treated as a citizen of any remote country, and definately more than one person per company can be issued one)
browski
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- 1,498
Well,
I bit the bullet and emailed Business Mobility and asked them about APEC Card Cancellations. It appears that there have been NO cards cancelled.
Here is their full response.....
Dear Mr Browski
No APEC cards are been canceled, however some APEC card holders are no
longer eligible. I have attached the following for your information:
The process for the renewal is the same as for a new application. Please
note, renewals are taking upward of six months to process.
As the clearances that make up the card expire after 3 years, we need you
to complete a new application form allowing us to resubmit your details for
new clearances. A new application will go to all economies currently
active within the scheme.
Please read below our new eligibility requirements, as our criteria has
changed.
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).
I bit the bullet and emailed Business Mobility and asked them about APEC Card Cancellations. It appears that there have been NO cards cancelled.
Here is their full response.....
Dear Mr Browski
No APEC cards are been canceled, however some APEC card holders are no
longer eligible. I have attached the following for your information:
The process for the renewal is the same as for a new application. Please
note, renewals are taking upward of six months to process.
As the clearances that make up the card expire after 3 years, we need you
to complete a new application form allowing us to resubmit your details for
new clearances. A new application will go to all economies currently
active within the scheme.
Please read below our new eligibility requirements, as our criteria has
changed.
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).
Cruiser Elite
Enthusiast
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- Oct 31, 2010
- Posts
- 13,897
Just an update - received this advice recently - long winded - but make of it what you might.
Dear Cruiser Elite,
My apologies that I have not been able to return your calls, I was out of the office. When I tried to reach you today, I heard from your office that you had left for Italy.
I therefore thought that I would email you to provide an update on the review of the eligibility criteria, given your interest in this process.
Since my last contact with you, the Department has finalised consultations with a broad range of business organisations on the current requirements for the APEC Business Travel Card. Based on these consultations, we have developed a proposed eligibility model and eligibility criteria that would underpin it, which are attached for your information and consideration. We are confident that the model addresses the key concerns raised by business representatives while ensuring our obligations to the APEC scheme and to other APEC economies is maintained.
(See attached file: APEC Business Travel Card - Proposed Eligibility Model.doc)
Aside from one component of the proposed model, we believe the model could be implemented in a matter of weeks should it be endorsed by business representatives and then receive final approval from the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Hon Chris Bowen MP.
The one component I refer to above relates to the establishment of a third party business body who can assume the role of validating that a business is genuinely engaged in international trade and investment activity. This reflected a strong preference from a number of business stakeholders and would recognise that a national business peak body, including the domestic and overseas networks at its disposal, would be better positioned than a government agency to verify that a business is genuinely engaged in international trade and investment. This component is highlighted in the attached document and may take longer to implement as it would involve discussions with a willing national peak business body to establish such arrangements.
In recognition that this component may take longer to implement, we would propose to implement the eligibility model in two stages:
Stage 1 – This would enable applications to be lodged and assessed by all applicants whose business is not required to be validated by an approved body (as set out in the attached). We anticipate being able to implement this arrangement within a matter of weeks while work on new arrangements to establish an approved business body (Stage 2) may take more time to be finalised.
Stage 2 – This would complete implementation of the proposed eligibility model by enabling applications to be lodged where a business is required to be validated by an approved body. The timing of this will depend upon establishing mutually agreed arrangements with a national business peak body as highlighted above.
To date, feedback from key business organisations on this proposed model has been overwhelmingly positive. If you would like to comment on the proposed model, please feel free to respond to this email.
Kind regards,
APEC
And the attachment:
APEC Business Travel Card (Australia)
Proposed Model for Eligibility Assessment
The proposed arrangements for eligibility assessment seek to:
Now most impoertantly - during the telephone conversations I have had with them it appears there WILL NOT be a monetary threshold of any amount used to determine eligibility - the $5mil previously suggested has now disappeared thank god.
Dear Cruiser Elite,
My apologies that I have not been able to return your calls, I was out of the office. When I tried to reach you today, I heard from your office that you had left for Italy.
I therefore thought that I would email you to provide an update on the review of the eligibility criteria, given your interest in this process.
Since my last contact with you, the Department has finalised consultations with a broad range of business organisations on the current requirements for the APEC Business Travel Card. Based on these consultations, we have developed a proposed eligibility model and eligibility criteria that would underpin it, which are attached for your information and consideration. We are confident that the model addresses the key concerns raised by business representatives while ensuring our obligations to the APEC scheme and to other APEC economies is maintained.
(See attached file: APEC Business Travel Card - Proposed Eligibility Model.doc)
Aside from one component of the proposed model, we believe the model could be implemented in a matter of weeks should it be endorsed by business representatives and then receive final approval from the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the Hon Chris Bowen MP.
The one component I refer to above relates to the establishment of a third party business body who can assume the role of validating that a business is genuinely engaged in international trade and investment activity. This reflected a strong preference from a number of business stakeholders and would recognise that a national business peak body, including the domestic and overseas networks at its disposal, would be better positioned than a government agency to verify that a business is genuinely engaged in international trade and investment. This component is highlighted in the attached document and may take longer to implement as it would involve discussions with a willing national peak business body to establish such arrangements.
In recognition that this component may take longer to implement, we would propose to implement the eligibility model in two stages:
Stage 1 – This would enable applications to be lodged and assessed by all applicants whose business is not required to be validated by an approved body (as set out in the attached). We anticipate being able to implement this arrangement within a matter of weeks while work on new arrangements to establish an approved business body (Stage 2) may take more time to be finalised.
Stage 2 – This would complete implementation of the proposed eligibility model by enabling applications to be lodged where a business is required to be validated by an approved body. The timing of this will depend upon establishing mutually agreed arrangements with a national business peak body as highlighted above.
To date, feedback from key business organisations on this proposed model has been overwhelmingly positive. If you would like to comment on the proposed model, please feel free to respond to this email.
Kind regards,
APEC
And the attachment:
APEC Business Travel Card (Australia)
Proposed Model for Eligibility Assessment
The proposed arrangements for eligibility assessment seek to:
- Recognise and seek evidence that an applicant is a frequent traveller and this reflects the underlying philosophy that the ABTC scheme is to support frequent business travellers.
- Not impose thresholds related to a business person’s seniority within a company and allow a CEO of a business, owner/director of a business or regional/country head of a business to nominate an employee for the purposes of obtaining the card.
- Not impose a monetary threshold relating to a business’s international trade or investment activity.
- Maintain integrity in the scheme by placing business-related judgements or decisions in the hands of a trusted peak business body who can validate that a business is engaged in international trade and investment activity.
- Recognise that companies with a notable public presence in business lists need not undergo validation by a peak business body.
- Recognise that companies that have received an Export Market Development Grant from Austrade during the last 5 years also need not undergo validation by a peak business body.
| Criterion 1 The applicant must demonstrate frequent travel (a minimum of 4 business trips per year from the applicant’s place of residence) to an APEC economy (other than Australia*) for business purposes. * Australian nationals require no visa for entry to Australia. | The ABTC scheme is designed to support the frequent business traveller. Anyone travelling less frequently than specified is required to meet the usual visa / entry requirements of an economy they seek to visit. For Australian residents, frequency of travel can generally be confirmed by arrival and departure records maintained by DIAC. Where necessary, clients may be required to provide documentary evidence of travel as typically retained by business travellers for tax purposes. For Australians residing outside of Australia, documentary evidence of frequent business travel must be submitted with an application form. |
Criterion 2 The applicant is the CEO or regional/ country head of a registered business entity; or an owner/ director of a registered business entity; or the CEO of an Australian-based business peak body. OR The applicant is an employee of a registered business entity or Australian–based business peak body and personally nominated by the aforementioned CEO, regional/country head or owner/director of the organisation. | Evidence to confirm that the person is a CEO, regional/country head, or owner/director is required for verification purposes. A pro-forma nomination letter must be signed by the CEO, regional/country head or the owner/director. The nomination will identify the applicant, certify that the person nominated is performing trade or investment-related activities on behalf of the organisation in the APEC region, and declare that they believe the applicant will conduct themselves in a professional and lawful manner as an Australian APEC cardholder. |
| Criterion 3 The applicant is employed by a registered business entity, or Australian-based peak business body, engaged in international trade or investment between APEC member economies and:
| An ‘approved business list’ could include:
(STAGE 2) An ‘approved body’ would be a national peak business body and this would be subject to further discussion and negotiation. Criteria against which an ‘approved body’ may validate a registered business entity could include:
|
| Criterion 4 (if applicable) An applicant residing outside of Australia is authorised for residency and work purposes by the relevant immigration authority in that economy. | Evidence of residency and work status, such as a resident’s visa or employment pass, must be provided to enable verification with the relevant immigration authority for that economy. |
Now most impoertantly - during the telephone conversations I have had with them it appears there WILL NOT be a monetary threshold of any amount used to determine eligibility - the $5mil previously suggested has now disappeared thank god.
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My most frequent country to visit at the moment is HK. When I had a valid APEC card I registered my passport for HKG immigration e-channel, where they put a barcode on the back of the passport and can then use the scanners and finger print reader and they print an entry sticker to place in your passport. When my APEC card expired I could no longer use the e-channel. On my visit to HK earlier this month I enquired about frequent Visitor Card and the immigration officer was able to change the "supporting document" for my e-channel bar-code to be my Qantas FF card. Now I can use the e-channel again and its valid for the life of my passport! So no loss from no APEC card for HKG for me.
Cruiser Elite
Enthusiast
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- 13,897
APEC Update
Applied for replacement APEC on Aug 10, 2011 - today received following:
Dear Mr Cruiser,
APEC Approval Notification: AUS [-]512345[/-]
I am writing in response to your application for an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC). It has been determined that your application meets the Australian eligibility criteria.
Your application will now be referred to Australian law enforcement agencies to confirm that you do not have a criminal record. This process can take up to three weeks. Once we receive confirmation, your details will be sent to the other APEC economies for pre clearance. It is at this stage that you will be able to track the approvals on our website: www.businessmobility.org/key/abtc.html using your application number.
Please note: The average clearance time is currently two to three months for most economies, with China taking about 5 months.An application might not receive pre-clearance from every participating economy. As with a visa, economies retain the right to refuse entry to any person.
Once all economies have processed your application the ABTC will be issued automatically. The card will be sent to address for correspondence as per your original application. Once Australian processing is completed and other economies have pre cleared your application you may apply for an interim card by emailing [email protected]. An interim card is only valid for travel to those countries which have pre cleared an application at the time it is printed.
Kind Regards
<redacted name>
APEC Unit
Brisbane Temporary Visas and Client Services
---------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
GPO Box 9984
Brisbane, QLD. 4001
P - 07 3136 7115 / F - 07 3136 7474 / E - [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. DIAC respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988. The official departmental privacy policy can be viewed on the department's website at www.immi.gov.au.
Positive part is that APEC are still processing - negative Is I will need to go get 12mth multiple entry into China to get me over hump of next few weeks.
Applied for replacement APEC on Aug 10, 2011 - today received following:
Dear Mr Cruiser,
APEC Approval Notification: AUS [-]512345[/-]
I am writing in response to your application for an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC). It has been determined that your application meets the Australian eligibility criteria.
Your application will now be referred to Australian law enforcement agencies to confirm that you do not have a criminal record. This process can take up to three weeks. Once we receive confirmation, your details will be sent to the other APEC economies for pre clearance. It is at this stage that you will be able to track the approvals on our website: www.businessmobility.org/key/abtc.html using your application number.
Please note: The average clearance time is currently two to three months for most economies, with China taking about 5 months.An application might not receive pre-clearance from every participating economy. As with a visa, economies retain the right to refuse entry to any person.
Once all economies have processed your application the ABTC will be issued automatically. The card will be sent to address for correspondence as per your original application. Once Australian processing is completed and other economies have pre cleared your application you may apply for an interim card by emailing [email protected]. An interim card is only valid for travel to those countries which have pre cleared an application at the time it is printed.
Kind Regards
<redacted name>
APEC Unit
Brisbane Temporary Visas and Client Services
---------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Immigration and Citizenship
GPO Box 9984
Brisbane, QLD. 4001
P - 07 3136 7115 / F - 07 3136 7474 / E - [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.
This email, including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. DIAC respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988. The official departmental privacy policy can be viewed on the department's website at www.immi.gov.au.
Positive part is that APEC are still processing - negative Is I will need to go get 12mth multiple entry into China to get me over hump of next few weeks.
globalexplorer
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2011
- Posts
- 35
Good news is that the time for clearance is not taking as long as they say in the email. I recently renewed my card and was expecting a huge wait for all economies given the 5 month timeframe for China. Got a pleasant surprise when my card arrived in the post after probably 8-12 weeks. Interesting part was that I had only checked the status of processing the day before and it only showed a handful of countries having processed the application yet when I got the card a day later it has them all there. Now I am happy again that I have my card, the few months without it reminded me how invaluable it is, I seriously hate waiting in long lines.
On the application form they should include a box allowing you to select which countries you want clearance from. If you only need one or two this would reduce the load on all the other countries.
Good advice HW, indeed that is what I did.
I Listed my primary 5 countries, so that they could issue a temp. card as early as possible. I never though Australia would lag behind so much. I actually only got approved by Australia last week. So it took 8 mths for Australia to give me clearance. China only took 2 months!!!
The blessing is that getting an NZ card is still easy to get. Many of my Aussie friends are now without cards due to the new restrictions.
Bummer for them!
I Listed my primary 5 countries, so that they could issue a temp. card as early as possible. I never though Australia would lag behind so much. I actually only got approved by Australia last week. So it took 8 mths for Australia to give me clearance. China only took 2 months!!!
The blessing is that getting an NZ card is still easy to get. Many of my Aussie friends are now without cards due to the new restrictions.
Bummer for them!
The process you describe above is now official and is in use for applications from Nov 16 (for most, but some will have to wait for a second phase). This is great news for some I am sure (me include - I can now apply for new card - my previous one expired in August).
More details here.
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