Customer is going overseas long term – entitlement check and record transfer 061-02020000

If the customer plans to go overseas for more than 12 months, additional payment methods are available. This procedure contains information to assist a Service Officer to transfer the customer's record in order to access these services and also to record the overseas absence.

A customer going overseas long term may either:

• continue to receive payment into their Australian bank account
• have their payment paid directly into an overseas bank account

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

Service Officer must use the Portability Script - Departures and Returns to determine the customer's entitlement overseas. CIS will conduct the interview, by phone, if the customer is going overseas for longer than 26 weeks and is:

• on a restricted portability payment, or
• studying overseas (not Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy), or
• paid under an international agreement or paid under special portability rules

Not all these cases will be transferred to CIS.

CIS will determine if the customer's payment is payable for long term overseas absences or when a customer is leaving Australia to live in another country. CIS will take into account the customer's circumstances and the specific portability rules applicable for their payment type:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)

Age Pension, Carer Payment (CP) and DSP customer records are the only records that should be transferred to or created in Environment I.

CIS may need to request a Job Capacity Assessment (JCA) for DSP customers to determine if the customer is eligible for indefinite portability under the 'no future work capacity' portability provisions, or because they are considered to be severely disabled.

Assessment Services are responsible for scheduling all JCA appointments. The medical information obtained is used to decide whether the customer satisfies the medical qualification for long term payment overseas. If a customer goes overseas without having this assessment done, payment will stop from the end of their maximum portability period (or on departure if they are leaving Australia to live in another country).

A terminally ill customer may also need to have a form completed before departure.

The system will automatically generate a Manual Follow-up (MFU) ‘CIS to assess long term overseas entitlement’ on a customer’s record:

• when a customer has been overseas for 12 months
• whether the departure was advised or not

These are actioned by CIS staff, who may need to investigate the customer’s circumstances further.

The Department of Home Affairs generally advises when a customer or child leaves or returns to Australia. The Centrelink system uses the information to assesses the portability of payments and concession cards. The assessment will happen regardless of whether the customer has told Services Australia their travel details. Note: do not cancel Department of Home Affairs datalink activities.

Where the customer gives evidence they travelled on different dates, the agency should consider using those different dates, if both the following apply:

• the new dates are logical
• the results will be a better outcome for the customer

This most often happens if a customer passes through Australian customs on one day but the flight leaves the next day.

In many cases, customers do not have to tell the agency if they are leaving Australia temporarily for less than 6 weeks, or when they have returned from a temporary absence.

When customers do need to tell us about a departure before leaving Australia or when they have returned to Australia they can use the Travelling outside of Australia service. This service is in their Centrelink online account. If the travel or portability assessment is complex the online service will ask them to contact the agency.

Services Australia website lists when customers must tell the agency they are leaving or returning to Australia. The Resources page has a link.

Customers leaving Australia are still required to notify any other changes to their circumstances that would normally affect their payment or concession card. Depending on the event, customers may be able to notify the change online. Refer to the Change of circumstances procedure for the relevant payment or concession card type.

The Resources page contains a link to Medicare information on the portability of Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) medications.