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The validity of the APEC Business Travel Card will be extended from three to five years starting from September 1, 2015.
The APEC Business Travel Card will offer businesspeople five-year, short-stay, multiple-entry to participating APEC member economies and priority lane access at key immigration checkpoints in member economy airports.
Applications lodged on or before 31 August 2015 are to be granted an APEC Business Travel Card valid for three years. Applications lodged on or after 1 September 2015 are to be granted a card valid for five years.
The APEC Business Travel Card reduces the cost of cardholders’ business travel between APEC economies by 38 per cent, according to APEC Policy Support Unit research. The card was specifically found to cut application fees by 27.8 per cent, application time costs by 43.3 per cent and immigration processing time costs by 52.4 per cent.
The APEC Business Travel Card was launched by APEC economies in 1997 and has experienced significant growth in recent years. The number of active card users in the year to 30 June 2015 increased by more than 15 per cent, to over 190,000, compared to around 164,000 in mid-2014.