Portability of payments paid under International Agreements 061-01090000

A customer paid under an agreement advises of a departure from their country of location.

Customers paid under an agreement have the country code recorded in the Agreement Country: field on the Additional Residence Details (ARD).

Note: cases previously rejected under an agreement may still have the Agreement Country: field coded when they are subsequently granted another payment. Coding should be checked to ensure payment under agreement is required.

Is the customer paid under an agreement?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 2

This procedure does not apply. See Leaving Australia and portability of payments and choose the appropriate payment type. Procedure ends here.

CIS is responsible for all agreement portability decisions and coding. The Portability Script will refer all agreement portability cases to CIS.

Is the Service Officer in CIS?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, transfer the case to Centrelink International Services (CIS). Procedure ends here

Is the customer returning to Australia?

• Yes, go to Return To Australia - procedures for Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff, procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 5

Information required:

• which country or countries the customer is going to
• the date of departure
• the planned length of absence

If the customer is going permanently or for an extended period, check other changes in circumstances that may have occurred because of the departure.

For help with assessing where a person is residing, see Assessing if a customer is an Australian resident.

Changes may include:

• income and assets, see Coding income and assets for Centrelink payments and services
• vacation of home property (VHP), see Changing address
• relationship status, see Changing Relationship Status, Dependent Child or Family details
• care requirements, see Change of care for Carer Allowance (CA) and Carer Payment (CP)
• nominee arrangements, see Reviewing nominee arrangements
• payment destination (absences from Australia of 12 months or more), see Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia

Confirm the customer's contact details, including changes or temporary arrangements during the absence.

Go to Step 6

The Portability Script cannot be used for agreement portability other than New Zealand and cases must be assessed and coded manually by CIS.

For detailed information on each individual agreement, refer to the Portability section in the relevant country file in International Social Security Agreements.

Notes:

• Payments covered under a previous version of an agreement generally remain portable for the period specified in that previous version. Check the Agreement Year: field on the ARD screen to confirm which version applies
• If the payment is not portable or has limited portability but the customer is going to another agreement country, consider transferring the payment to the other agreement at the end of the portability period. See Transfer to international social security agreements

Go to Step 7

• Advise the customer of the portability decision
• Record all details of the contact in a DOC
• If requested, manually issue an XOB999 letter detailing the decision, see Creating an Online Advice (OLA), including within an existing activity
• Approved text for agreement portability letters is available for staff in CIS through the CIS homepage

It is important to also advise the customer of any rate changes that may occur. For example:

• the cessation of add-ons, for example: Pension Supplement, Energy Supplement, or Rent Assistance
• the date from which the rate changes, for example: becomes proportional

Note: the Agreement with New Zealand may affect the rate of payment if the customer goes to New Zealand, whether the customer is paid by virtue of the Agreement with New Zealand or not. See New Zealand Agreement and foreign pension information.

Is the date of departure within the next 4 weeks?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No,
• in Customer First, create a manual review on the Review Registration (RVR) screen and complete the fields as follows:
  Service Reason: customer's payment type
  Review Reason: OSR (Overseas)
  Due Date: 7 days prior to the date of departure
  Source: INT
  Date of Receipt: today's date
  Notes: 'Date of departure to be coded. Return to OB 061-01090000 for action.'
  Keywords: AUS172
  Workgroup: leave blank
  Position: leave blank
  Transfer to Region: leave blank
• The review will mature on the Due Date coded in the RVR activity. Workload Management will allocate the review for manual action
• Procedure ends here

Some agreement portability rules are included in system processing but decisions should always be checked on the Assessment Results (AR) screen to ensure the correct decision has been applied.

On the Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen:

• code the date of departure in the Event date: field
• code the destination country in the Country: field

On the Country of Residence (CRES) screen (for permanent departures only):

• code the destination country in the Country: field
• code the date of arrival in that country in the Event date: field

On the Residence Savings (RSS) screen (for departures to New Zealand longer than 12 months, including permanent departures):

• code ‘NZ’ in the Long Term Country Code: field
• code the date of arrival in the Event date: field

Notes:

• If the customer is travelling to multiple destinations or the destination country is unknown, code 'XT' on RSCD
• If the customer is departing Australia and knows their exact return date, record a second line on RSCD with the date of return in the Event date: field and Australia in the Country: field
• Leave the Reason: and End date: fields blank on RSCD
• Ensure address and contact details are up to date

If the customer is not paid in Environment I but is departing Australia for more than 12 months, including permanently, see Customer is going overseas long term – entitlement check and record transfer.