Residence assessment for adult customers claiming a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC), Foster Child Health Care Card (FST) or Ex-Carer Allowance (child) Health Care Card (EHC) 101-06040050

To satisfy residence criteria for LIC, the customer must meet all of the following:

• be an Australian resident or a holder of a Special Category visa (SCV) residing in Australia or a holder of certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments
• generally must be in Australia at the time the claim is lodged
• remain an Australian resident, the holder of an SCV residing in Australia or the holder of a certain temporary visa to continue to qualify for the card, and
• satisfy a 2 year (104 week) or 4 year (208 week) NARWP

The length of the NARWP is determined by the grant date of the customer's first qualifying residence visa or specified visa subclass that allows eligibility for LIC.

• The customer will have a 2 year (104 week) NARWP if:
• their first permanent residence visa was granted before 1 January 2019, or
• they hold or have held an SCV 444 and not been granted a permanent visa after 1 January 2019, or
• they hold or have held visa subclass 115,117,835 or 837, or
• they hold a partner provisional visa (subclasses 309 and 820)
• Otherwise, the customer is required to serve a 4 year (208 week) NARWP

Note: if the holder of a SCV or partner provisional visa (subclasses 309 and 820) is granted a permanent visa on or after 1 January 2019, they become subject to a 4 year (208 week) NARWP for LIC. The calculation of the NARWP still commences from the application date for partner provisional visa (subclasses 309 and 820), and does not restart upon commencement of the permanent visa.

Alternatively, they may have an exemption from the NARWP in certain circumstances.

Note: if LIC is rejecting due to NARWP and the customer lived on Norfolk Island before 1 July 2016, see Requesting and coding additional residence data for Norfolk Island claims.

To satisfy residence criteria for FST the claimant must meet all of the following:

• be an Australian resident or a holder of a Special Category visa (SCV) residing in Australia
• generally must be in Australia at the time the claim is lodged, and
• remain an Australian resident or the holder of an SCV residing in Australia to continue to qualify for the card

FST is not subject to the NARWP.

For residence requirements that apply to the foster child, see Foster Child Health Care Card (FST).

To satisfy residence criteria for EHC the claimant must meet all of the following:

• be an Australian resident
• generally must be in Australia at the time the claim is lodged
• remain an Australian resident throughout the period of payment, and
• satisfy a 2 year (104 week) or 4 year (208 week) NARWP

The length of the NARWP is determined by the grant date of the customer's first permanent residence visa.

• The customer will have a 2 year (104 week) NARWP if:
• their first permanent residence visa was granted before 1 January 2019, or
• they hold or have held a visa subclass 115, 117, 835 or 837
• Otherwise, the customer is required to serve a 4 year (208 week) NARWP

Alternatively, they may have an exemption from the NARWP in certain circumstances.

Note: if EHC claim is rejecting due to the NARWP and the customer lived on Norfolk Island before 1 July 2016, see Requesting and coding additional residence data for Norfolk Island claims.

Before being eligible for certain concession cards, newly arrived residents in Australia claiming a payment or concession are generally required to be physically in Australia for the required duration of the NARWP:

• as an Australian resident
• as a holder of a Special Category visa (SCV) residing in Australia, or
• from the application date of 309 or 820 visa

This can either be in one period, or in a number of periods.

Temporary absences from Australia in the waiting period do not restart the NARWP but the days that a customer is overseas do not count towards meeting the NARWP requirements. For example, a customer claiming LIC may have a 2 or 4 year NARWP. If they leave Australia temporarily for 3 weeks the NARWP period does not recommence, but the absence extends the NARWP end date by 3 weeks.

The requirement to be in Australia for a period or periods totalling the required duration of the NARWP, allows for broken periods of residence in Australia to count if the person was:

• an Australian resident
• a holder of SCV residing in Australia, or
• a partner provisional visa applicant for each period

For example, a customer who has returned to live in Australia after several years living overseas may have previously lived in Australia as an Australian resident. The past period spent in Australia as an Australian resident would count towards any current NARWP requirements.

It is not a requirement that the period of residence required for the NARWP occurred immediately before claiming.

Note: the NARWP only needs to be served once for the applicable payment.

The claim process will attempt a datalink with the Department of Home Affairs. If successful, the datalink will automatically retrieve and record a customer's visa and movement information from 1 September 1994, and grants of Australian citizenship where available.

If the datalink is unsuccessful, the customer's residence information will need to be manually recorded. If the Immigration Datalink has provided the information, it will take precedence over any conflicting information provided by the customer. Once the immigration record is matched with a customer's Centrelink record, ongoing updates to movement information and visa changes will be automatically recorded.

The decision about whether a customer is or was residing in Australia needs to be manually assessed and recorded by the Service Officer. This is a discretionary decision and is not provided by the datalink.