Information for holders of Virtual APEC Business Travel Cards

As suggested by Australia, recently several APEC member economies have started issuing Virtual APEC Business Travel Cards (ABTC) which like plastic ABTC, allow entry of citizens of APEC member economies travelling to respective economies for business and official purposes during a five-year period.

The Russian Federation will need a fairly long transition period for the full-fledged implementation of the Virtual ABTC scheme in order to amend the Russian legislation, implement a series of organizational and technical measures and modernize the checkpoints and the system of data flow with regard to the entry and stay of foreign citizens in Russia.

In this regard, the holders of the virtual ABTC will not be permitted entrance to the Russian Federation pending Russia’s notification of its readiness to join the virtual ABTC system.

Please also note that due to the current epidemiological restrictions the entrance to the Russian Federation is permitted to citizens of states enlisted in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, provided they are travelling through air checkpoints. Depending on the epidemiological situation, the list may be adjusted. For further details please follow the link:

http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_347693/1e0230cb4569f47d53d2d38fb2d30fa798e8d12f/