Recording legal residence status 106-06020050

Child residence and portability screens are used when the customer is a dependent child. The screen names generally start with the letters CH.

To access the Child's Legal Residence Details (CHRSLEG) screen:

• go to the parent or care giver's record
• go to the Child Selection (CHS) screen
• 'S' the relevant child
• enter RSLEG in the Next field then select Continue

Legal residence details may be obtained directly from the Department of Home Affairs via the Immigration Datalink.

On the CHIMME/RSIMME screen, check the Customer Immigration Link Status field:

• ‘ACTIVE’ - the customer has an active datalink and the legal residence information on the customer’s record should be current
• ‘INACTIVE’ – the customer is linked, however Services Australia will only receive updated information upon request
• Blank – customer is not linked with Immigration

If the status is ‘ACTIVE’, check that the visa information as advised by the customer in their claim is on the RSLEG screen.

If the status is ‘INACTIVE’, Service Officers will need to manually refresh immigration data via the Request Immigration Data field to ensure current. Note: online claims automatically request an Immigration data refresh upon claim submission by the customer. Check that the visa information as advised by the customer in their claim is on the RSLEG screen.

If the status is blank, (i.e. a datalink was unable to be established) and a link was expected (e.g. the customer has been overseas since), see Activating the Department of Home Affairs datalink and contingency procedures if datalink is unavailable.

If the information does not appear to be correct, a referral to CIS may be required, see Referring inconsistencies in overseas departure and arrival information to Centrelink International Services (CIS). If the case is referred to CIS, put the activity on hold awaiting a reply from CIS. When a response is received, continue with this process.

Is the current Australian citizenship and/or visa information correctly showing on the CHRSLEG/RSLEG screen?

• Yes, continue to assess the claim/activity. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 3

Is the customer’s current visa status on RSLEG recorded as ‘NCV’, but they are advising, or staff are acting on advice that indicates they do hold a current visa?

• Yes, see Step 6 in Table 2
• No, go to Step 4

The Immigration Datalink has not provided Australian citizenship and/or visa information.

Any claim or update that causes an NZR/RSD activity cannot be finalised by the Service Officer until the New Zealand status has been coded by Centrelink International Services (CIS). These activities are automatically referred to CIS and generally completed within 24 hours.

Check scanned images for evidence of legal residence status.

Has the customer provided evidence of Australian citizenship or visa information?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 5

If the datalink has not verified the customer's Australian citizenship or visa information and the customer has not provided sufficient documentation, the Service Officer should ask the customer to provide evidence of their legal residence status before updating the RSLEG/CHRSLEG screen.

Attempt to call the customer to obtain the legal residence information:

• Make 2 genuine attempts to contact by phone:
• If the customer is reached by phone, explain the claim requirements, attempt to obtain the details verbally and code the record with this information. Advise that they must also provide documentary evidence. DOC the outcome
• If the customer is not reached by phone, request the information in writing (RFI) and allow extra days for mail delivery

See Documents required for Centrelink new claims and Claims received that are incomplete or incorrect.

The Request for Information (RFI) will generally place a new claim on hold. If the status needs updating manually, change the status to On Hold via the Status icon until the customer responds or after the allowed time. See Requesting information (CLK).

A claim can be held to user if it meets Hold to User new claim criteria. For more information on holding claims to user, see Work Optimiser for staff.

Go to Step 6.

Generally legal residence information provided by a customer needs to be verified but there are certain instances where verification is either not required or can be obtained at a later date.

If the reason for the update is:

• running First Contact Service Offer (FCSO), or
• processing a Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) verbal claim, or
• correcting a cancellation for a residence related reason,

generally legal residence information may be accepted pending return of verification unless the Service Officer has justifiable doubts about the validity of the information provided.

Does one of these situations apply?

• Yes, for:
• Running FCSO
  Code the minimum residence information provided by the customer on the system to allow FCSO to finalise
  This could require the Date of Event and Country of Citizenship fields to be updated on the RSLEG/CHRSLEG screen
  Advise the customer they may need to provide documents to verify their Australian citizenship when they lodge their claim. See Step 2 in Table 2
• Processing a LIC verbal claim
  Legal residence information should only be entered on the system if required to allow the workflow to be completed. As the customer is already receiving payment, verification would generally not be necessary. See Step 3 in Table 2
• Cancellation for a residence related reason
  See Residence related reason. Go to Step 7
• No, procedure ends here until the customer has responded to the request for information or the due date for return of information has passed. When this occurs, continue with the process

If the outcome of the request for information is that the customer has:

• provided evidence of Australian citizenship, (for assistance in determining whether proof of Australian citizenship has been satisfied, see Proof of Australian citizenship), see Step 3 in Table 2
• provided documentation showing they hold a valid visa to verify their legal residence status (e.g. visa stamp within a foreign passport), see Step 1 in Table 2
• advised they are unable to provide evidence of legal residence status, see Step 1 in Table 2

If:

• legal residence details were not available through the Immigration Datalink, and/or
• the customer has not been able to provide documentation to verify their legal residence status, and/or
• the customer’s legal residence commenced before 1 September 1994

verification of the customer’s arrival into Australia will likely also provide evidence of their (or their parents if applicable) legal residence status at the time, which may assist in determining that the customer is a legal resident. See the Date of arrival - start of living in Australia table.

Has legal residence been confirmed?

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

Is the customer advising of a change in their legal residence details and the previous details were already coded?

• Yes, leave the existing details. Go to Step 8
• No,
• Go to the RSLEG/CHRSLEG screen
• Record the customer's country of citizenship the same as their country of birth from date of birth. If the citizenship is Australia from birth but this cannot be verified, record 'XX' in the Country of Citizenship: field
• If the country of birth is not Australia or New Zealand and the visa status is unknown or unverified, leave the Subclass Code: field blank
• Go to Step 7

Go to the RSLEG/CHRSLEG screen.

• The Date of Event: field relates to the date of grant of citizenship
• If the country of citizenship is the same as country of birth, and no date of citizenship has been provided, date of event will be date of birth
• If the customer provides an Australian citizenship certificate, the date of grant of the certificate is the date of event. Note: where the certificate has a grant date on the front and the date to attend the oath of allegiance or affirmation on the back, the earlier of the 2 dates is recorded in this field
• The Country of Citizenship: field is also mandatory coding for most service reasons
• If the customer has citizenship for more than one country (which includes Australia), code the Australian citizenship
• If New Zealand citizenship is not recorded, but is confirmed by the presence of a 444 visa, code New Zealand citizenship from the date they first entered Australia on a 444 visa
• If the customer has more than one citizenship which includes New Zealand (but not including Australia), code the New Zealand citizenship

Is the customer an Australian citizen?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

Australian citizens do not require a visa to be recorded. However, if a customer is an Australian citizen but is relying on a Qualifying Residence Exemption (QRE) to qualify for payment (e.g. former refugee visa granted to a person who is now an Australian citizen but has only 4 years residence in Australia), they may not qualify for payment (e.g. Age Pension) unless the previous visa subclass is recorded.

Is the customer an Australian citizen who requires a former visa status to qualify for payment?

Note: if in doubt, record all previous visa subclasses held by the customer.

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 7

These details are needed to grant payment to any customer who is not recorded as being an Australian citizen, protected Special Category visa (SCV) holder or non-protected SCV holder. As well as the customer's current details, previous visas need to be recorded to allow any waiting period or qualifying residence period to be served.

For example, residence information needs to be recorded for past periods if a customer is claiming any payment, which may be subject to a Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP).

If in doubt, record all visa subclasses from the customer's arrival in Australia.

Customers may have 2 current visas at the same time. Both visas should be recorded. If both are current, the system will use the most beneficial visa to assess their entitlement.

Note: if the visa information is left blank or is incomplete, the residence status may be incorrectly assessed which will lead to an incorrect grant or rejection.

• Identification Number: field is optional but should be recorded if known. The visa identification number is usually on the customer's entry documentation (e.g. passport). For help interpreting visas, see Chapter 9.1 of the Social Security Guide
• Subclass Code: field is required to grant any customer not recorded as an Australian or New Zealand citizen. If keying this field, also key the Grant Date: field. The visa subclass is the 3 digit code on the customer's entry documentation
• If the visa grant date is before 1 September 1994 and the customer was a permanent resident of Australia on that date, key subclass '111' (or '444' for a NZ citizen). Note: the codes prior to 1 September 1994 were alpha and numeric codes. They will continue to display and can be updated
• If a customer's legal residence has been cancelled but it is still being assessed (as per the RSREX/RSRD screens) it needs to be manually ended. Centrelink International Services (CIS) will need to record the date of change as advised by the Department of Home Affairs in the visa Grant Date: field and code 'NCV' in the Subclass Code: field. Go to Step 6
• If the Home Affairs database shows that a customer's permanent residence visa has been reinstated and shows as 'in effect' on the Movement Reconstruction database (e.g. a visa cancellation is overturned on appeal) and 'NCV' has previously been coded in the Subclass Code: field, the 'NCV' coding will need to be deleted by CIS. Go to Step 6
• Grant Date: field must be keyed if the Subclass Code: field or End Date: fields are recorded. This is the date the visa was granted or issued
• End Date: field is optional. This is generally the date the visa has been ended, i.e. cancelled, ceased or deleted
• Application Date: field is an optional field for Special Benefit, Low Income Health Care Card (LIC), Family Tax Benefit, Parental Leave Pay, and Dad and Partner Pay customers granted on provisional visas only. Key the date the customer applied for the visa. If this information is not automatically provided from the datalink with the Department of Home Affairs, it can only be obtained from the Department Home Affairs via written request
• AOS Indicator: field defaults to Yes if the visa sub class has a mandatory Assurance of Support (AoS) agreement attached to it. If the AoS visa subclass needs to be updated, it must be referred to the AoS team. The Resources page contains a link to the list of AOS contacts
• Visa qualifier code: field displays additional visa qualifiers associated with the visa subclass to determine payment eligibility. This field is currently used for holders of visa subclass 403. If the visa qualifier code needs to be updated manually, it must be referred to CIS. See Referring inconsistencies in overseas departure and arrival information to Centrelink International Services (CIS)
• Start date: field must be keyed if the Visa qualifier code: field is recorded. This is the date the visa qualifier started
• End date: field is optional. This is used if visa qualifier condition has been ended

The system will generally assess whether the customer is legally entitled to lodge a claim and their residential qualifications based on the information recorded on RSLEG/CHRSLEG, information on the CRES screen, and overseas absences from the Customer Advised Travel Information (RSCD) and Immigration Advised Movements (RSIM) screens.

Go to Step 7.

Centrelink only receive and react to visa end dates in the following situations:

• Permanent visas and visa subclass 444, where visa is cancelled or deleted
• Temporary visas (other than visa subclass 444), where the visa is cancelled, ceased or deleted

Note: For users who have access to the Department of Home Affairs' Immigration Movement Records (MR) Database, the Visa Status in MR will show as C=Cancelled, S=Ceased, Z=Deleted.

Visa end dates on permanent visas and 444 visas that have a visa status of 'S' ceased in the Immigration Movement Records (MR) mean the travel rights of the visa have expired. They do not mean that the visa has ended, or that the customer no longer holds that visa. As a result, these end dates are not automatically updated via the datalink, and should not be manually recorded on the RSLEG/CHRSLEG screen.

In most instances, the coding of a valid visa end date will prompt the system to reassess the customer's residence status from that end date and update their record accordingly. This will ensure the customer is not incorrectly assessed as an Australian resident. Any residence prior to the cancellation date still counts towards the appropriate purpose, i.e. qualification, payability etc.

In some circumstances, inserting the end date will not generate a residence reassessment, and the RSLEG screen will need to be manually updated with an entry of No Current Visa (NCV) from the date of visa cancellation + 1 day in order to correctly assess the customer as a non-resident. Scenarios where this may be needed include:

• customers who still have other qualifying visas coded as current on RSLEG that are no longer in effect in MR
• customers with more than one permanent visa recorded but none of them are current
• customers whose 444 visa has ended and they have no other current visa in MR but they still have open 444 visas on their RSLEG screen

If the customer's Australian permanent residence visa has been reinstated (e.g. a visa cancellation is overturned on appeal), the NCV coding will need to be deleted for the system to correctly assess the customer as an Australian resident. The Resources page contains examples.

To have CIS update NCV coding:

In Customer First:

• Go to the Investigate Match Questionnaire (IMQ) screen
• Select the option ‘CSA has reason to believe that the data provided by the immigration link is incomplete'
• Within the field that starts with ‘Please provide detailed information…’, record either (in addition to any further relevant information):
• Request to insert NCV coding from xx/xx/xxxx (the date the visa ended + 1)
• Request to remove NCV coding from RSLEG

In Process Direct:

• Go to the Immigration Link Details (RSIML) and/or Child's Immigration Link Details (CHIML) screen.
• Click the Report a problem with Immigration data link at the bottom left of the screen and the IMQ screen will display.
• Select the option ‘CSA has reason to believe that the data provided by the immigration link is incomplete'
• Within the field that starts with ‘Please provide detailed information…’, record either (in addition to any further relevant information):
• Request to insert NCV coding from xx/xx/xxxx
• Request to remove NCV coding from RSLEG

Notes: other fields on this screen cannot be updated by staff outside CIS. The IMQ screen presented for a child record through the CHIML screen will be on the parent’s record.

If the customer is in hardship, contact CIS to advise that an urgent response is required.

Put the claim on hold for 14 days and check back for the response from CIS.

CIS should update the customer’s record and either create a Display on Access (DOA) DOC or end date the existing DOA DOC (depending on whether they are inserting or removing NCV coding).

Check if the customer satisfies the qualifying residence requirement or NARWP according to information recorded so far (e.g. adequate Australian residence, Australian citizenship or refugee visa).

To assist in determining this:

In Process Direct – navigate to the Entitlement (ELD) screen

In Customer First - go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen.

Do not finalise the activity. If the customer's payment is rejecting for a residence related reason, further details may be required.

Note: a non-protected SCV holder who has lived in Australia continuously for at least 10 years immediately before claiming and is residing in Australia may qualify for JSP, YA or SA and is not subject to the NARWP. For more information, see New Zealand 10 year residence exemption.

Does the customer satisfy the qualifying residence requirement or NARWP?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, payment will cancel or claim will reject, go to Step 8

The system will not automatically assess all the NARWP or qualifying residence exemptions.

A special field needs to be coded to apply any of the following exemptions when the customer is:

• a family member of a refugee or former refugee at the time the refugee arrived in Australia and who is still a family member of that person - or if that person has since died, was a family member of that person at that time, or
• a refugee who arrived in Australia prior to 1 September 1994, or
• claiming JobSeeker Payment (JSP), Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker), or Parenting Payment Single (PPS) and became a lone principal carer since the start of the current period as an Australian resident, or
• claiming Special Benefit (SpB) or Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) and has had an unforeseen change in circumstances since they commenced residing in Australia, or
• claiming Mobility Allowance (MOB) and the event occurred while an Australian resident, or
• claiming Carer Payment (CP) and is a special needs relative

Could the customer satisfy one of the above residence exemption reasons?

• Yes, assess if the exemption can be applied to the customer. See Australian residence requirements for payment and select the procedure relating to the payment being claimed. Procedure ends here
• No, go to Step 9

The system will assess the customer's residential qualification based on the information recorded on RSLEG/CHRSLEG along with information contained on the Country of Residence (CRES) screen.

• If the customer is a New Zealand citizen, protected Special Category visa status may need to be verified before the claim can be finalised. Where this is required, a Manual Follow-up (MFU) will be generated for CIS to verify the customer's status. For more information, see Australian Residence Rules for New Zealand citizens
• If the customer has lost their legal residence status, payment will automatically cancel
• If payment cancels because the customer is not residentially qualified, check that an alternative payment cannot be claimed
• If the customer is residentially qualified and payment had been incorrectly cancelled (e.g. NSR and the error has since been corrected i.e. Residence information has been verified and updated), payment can be restored. See Restoration of payments
• If the customer is receiving Special Benefit (SpB), check if they are now qualified for an alternative payment. For example, if the customer was on a visa subclass 309 receiving SpB and was granted a visa subclass 100, they will lose entitlement to SpB once they have served the qualifying residence period or NARWP and become entitled to Parenting Payment (PP) or JobSeeker Payment (JSP)