Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District (CBD) has launched a new APEC Business Travel Card service to help local enterprises expand overseas more efficiently, with strong support from the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office.
The upgraded policy allows qualified corporate groups' branches and subsidiaries to apply for APEC Business Travel Cards at the same time by sharing their parent company's eligibility.
Previously, subsidiary staff could only apply for regular visas. The time-consuming visa procedures often made firms miss key business negotiation opportunities and slowed down their overseas expansion.
The new service materialized after a local foreign trade group raised specific needs. The authority quickly reviewed the demands, adjusted relevant service rules and activated the new synchronized application function to remove application barriers for group enterprises.
APEC Business Travel Cards enable fast, visa-free travel across APEC member economies. This optimization greatly cuts cross-border travel preparation time for corporate employees.
The local APEC service window pledges to keep upgrading services to resolve enterprises' development pain points and support more local firms in going global.
