Residence assessment for customers claiming Special Benefit (SpB) 003-08030070

To satisfy residence requirements for SpB, the customer must meet all of the following:

• be an Australian resident 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 or a holder of certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments throughout the period of payment
• satisfy a 2 year (104 week) or 4 year (208 week) NARWP

Customers claiming SpB who are new Australian residents must

• have been in Australia as an Australian resident or
• the holder of a specified visa subclass for the duration of the NARWP before SpB is payable, or
• have an exemption from the NARWP

When a customer does not satisfy residence requirements for payment (for example, a non-permanent resident of Australia) they may be able to claim SpB on behalf of a child if that child is:

• an Australian citizen
• the holder of a certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments, or
• the holder of a permanent residence visa

A child is exempt from the NARWP if they hold Australian citizenship or a specified temporary visa.

When a child holds a permanent visa, the child needs to serve the NARWP, or have an exemption for another reason, such as substantial change in circumstances.

Customers who have recently arrived to live in Australia and are claiming Special Benefit must have been an Australian resident and physically in Australia for the duration of the NARWP, either in 1 period, or in a number of periods, before they can access payments.

Temporary absences from Australia during 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 Special Benefit may have a 2 or 4 year NARWP. If they leave Australia temporarily for 3 weeks during the NARWP period, the absence extends the NARWP end date by 3 weeks.

The requirement to have been in Australia for a period or periods totalling the duration of the NARWP, allows for broken periods of residence in Australia to count if the person was an Australian resident 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 period of former Australian residence and presence would count towards any current NARWP requirements.

Generally, it is not a requirement that the period of residence needed for the NARWP occurred immediately before claiming. However, if a person is claiming an exemption from the NARWP under the substantial change in circumstances provisions, this change must have occurred since the start of the current period of Australian residence.

Note: the customer must only serve the NARWP once for the applicable payment.

If a 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.

A NARWP generally starts on the latest of the dates the person:

• arrived in Australia, or
• was granted permanent residence

Note: for holders of provisional partner visa subclass 309 or 820 claiming SpB, the NARWP starts from the visa application date. However, only physical presence in Australia will count towards the NARWP.

If a holder of a visa subclass 309 or 820 is subsequently granted a permanent partner visa subclass 100 or 801, the period on the temporary visa will count towards the NARWP for SpB. The NARWP for most other payments starts once the permanent visa is granted.

The length of the NARWP changed from 1 January 2019. It is determined by the grant date of the customer's:

• first qualifying residence visa, or
• specified visa subclass that allows eligibility for SpB

The customer will have a 2 year (104 week) NARWP if:

• their first qualifying residence visa was granted (or visa application date for subclass 309 or 820) before 1 January 2019, or
• they hold or have held a visa subclass 115, 117, 835 or 837

Otherwise, the customer needs to serve a 4 year (208 week) NARWP

A customer may have an exemption from the NARWP for SpB if they:

• are the holder or former holder of a permanent refugee/humanitarian visa
• were a family member of a refugee/humanitarian entrant at the time that person arrived in Australia and are the family member of that person when the claim is made, or when that person died (if they have since died)

Customers holding a specified visa subclass that qualifies them for SpB are exempt from the NARWP. See Certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments.

For more information see Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) and Qualifying Residence Exemptions.

NARWP exemption due to substantial change in circumstances

A person who has experienced a substantial change in circumstances beyond their control, after the NARWP has started, may be exempt from the NARWP for SpB. See the Resources page of Processing Special Benefit (SpB) claims for examples of substantial change in circumstances.

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

Where the datalink is unsuccessful, staff must manually record the customer’s residence information. Data from the Immigration Datalink takes precedence over any conflicting information given 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 Service Officer must manually assess and record the decision about whether a customer is or was residing in Australia. This is a discretionary decision and is not provided by the datalink.