Austudy customer going overseas 102-11110020

Note: do not refer Overseas Full Time Study (OFS) cases to Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Service centre and smart centre staff are responsible for handling the portability interview and any departure coding for:

• students and Australian Apprentices who are going overseas to undertake approved study or work
• customers who clearly do not satisfy an approved reason
• customers leaving to live in another country

In all other cases, where a customer has indicated their overseas travel meets the initial criteria for an approved reason, the case must be referred to Centrelink International Services (CIS) to assess entitlement and code the departure.

The Portability Script - Departures and Returns will guide service centre and smart centre staff when it is necessary to refer to CIS.

If a customer is leaving Australia to live in another country, Austudy payments will be stopped from the earlier of the date of departure and:

• for students, the last day the customer satisfies the activity test
• for Australian Apprentices, the date they cease to qualify as an apprentice

If an Austudy customer leaves Australia temporarily, payment may continue:

• for a temporary absence of any length (but unlikely to be more than a few weeks) to attend a training camp with Australian Defence Force Reserves
• for a specific negotiated period (expected to be only a few weeks, but not more than 6 weeks)
• to attend to an acute family crisis
• for medical treatment of a kind not available in Australia

Customers will be activity test exempt while absent for these reasons. The allowable absence reasons are subject to very specific guidelines.

Note: Austudy may also continue outside Australia for the duration of approved overseas study or work. Further information is below.

Before making a decision if Austudy can be paid for overseas study or work, it is essential to determine that:

• immediately before leaving Australia, the customer is undertaking full-time or approved concessional load study in an approved course, or is a continuing/intending student
• students continue to satisfy the Austudy student qualification criteria
• Australian Apprentices continue to have a current Commonwealth Registration Number
• the overseas study/training will contribute to and be credited towards a full-time course in Australia

Note: a student required, or chooses, to travel overseas to undertake a work placement may continue to receive payment regardless of if a credit weighting is given. See Assessing study load requirements for details.

Note: do not refer these cases to CIS.

The customer must:

• advise their date of departure from Australia, return date (if known), and
• provide written advice from their Australian educational institution or state training authority confirming proof of the reason for their absence

Generally, a customer who is studying externally (for example, by correspondence or online) will not have to attend a campus overseas to complete units of their approved course. However, external students can access extended portability under overseas study provisions if they can demonstrate that their primary reason for going overseas is to undertake studies that form part of the course. This could be a residential component at an overseas institution or an overseas work placement provided it is part of the Australian course.

Austudy may only be paid for student exchange programs if the customer remains enrolled and is undertaking an approved course at an approved Australian institution. This is rarely the case for secondary students.

A student or Australian Apprentice granted portability for overseas study or work can continue to receive Austudy for the duration of the approved absence. The approved period may include additional travel time to allow them to prepare for the study and/or to finalise their affairs and return to Australia.

Immediately before leaving Australia, the customer must be:

• receiving Austudy and undertaking full-time or approved concessional load study in an approved course, or
• a continuing/intending student

Continuing students who lodge a claim for Austudy before leaving Australia may start receiving payment after they have left Australia if they are undertaking approved overseas study.

When running the Portability Script - Departures and Returns, it is important to note that choosing to assess Austudy for portability is on the basis the customer meets 1 of these criteria. If not, do not use the script.

If a non-continuing student (for example, returning to study following a gap year), has recently claimed and will not become qualified and payable until after they leave Australia (for example, due to waiting periods), Austudy cannot be paid until the person returns to Australia. Reject these claims and advise affected customers as soon as possible so they can change their travel plans if necessary.

Note: a new student, whose Australian course starts before they leave Australia, and has claimed Austudy before they depart can access overseas study provisions. See Resources for examples.

Customers must provide acceptable proof of the absence, preferably prior to their departure.

In an emergency, if accepted the customer is leaving for an approved reason, they will be required to provide supporting documentation on their return. If the documentation is not acceptable or not provided, a debt will be raised.

Where a customer provides supporting documentation relating to a previous temporary absence that was not for an approved reason at the time, do not run a request for review as a decision on their portability has not been made. Refer the case:

• for overseas study, to the Student Network Team
• in all other cases, to CIS

Austudy stops from the date of departure if the reason for leaving Australia is not acceptable or the customer has not provided proof of the reason, either before or after the absence.

A customer's portability period starts on the day they leave Australia. For portability purposes, a customer is not considered to be inside Australia for any part of the day they departed Australia regardless of the time of departure. If the customer is travelling outside Australia on a cruise, the date of departure is the date the ship leaves the last Australian port.

The day a customer returns to Australia is not included as part of their absence as they are considered to be inside Australia on that day (regardless of the time of return) and therefore no longer affected by portability. If they leave and return on the same day, for example airline crew, this is not considered a departure from Australia for portability purposes.

If a customer travelling for an approved reason advises they are departing on a specific date, and they then depart Australia more than 3 days before or more than 3 days after the advised date, any specific negotiated period of portability approved for the original date of departure will cease to apply. The customer's approved reason for travel outside Australia may no longer be valid, and payments will stop when the Immigration Datalink confirms the customer's actual date of departure.

Customers must advise of any change in their departure details prior to travel if they want payment during the absence. Service Officers can assess if the approved reason still applies and record the new departure date, and reason, again.

The return rule for Austudy means if a customer has been granted an approved overseas study absence, a brief return to Australia (up to 6 weeks) within the approved study period does not interrupt the portability period for the course of study overseas. No new decision is required in such cases.

If a student or Australian Apprentice working or training overseas decides to extend the length of their overseas course or work (for example, wants to continue studying overseas for an extra semester) the customer must apply to have their payment continue and provide new supporting evidence.

For approved reasons other than overseas study, customers unable to return to Australia by the end of the specific negotiated period must contact CIS or their payment will stop. If more time overseas is required, this can be discussed and any approved absence possibly extended up to the maximum portability period. However, if they are unable to return to Australia for a reason other than an approved reason (for example, they are hospitalised), there is discretion to extend the period of portability under certain circumstances.

Refer any change to the length of an absence for an approved reason to Centrelink International Services (CIS) for further assessment and coding.

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.

There is no provision that allows for an exemption from the activity test. Therefore, all Austudy customers must be enrolled and undertaking an approved course.

If the customer is the principal carer of a dependent child (or children) and that child (or all dependent children) leaves Australia, it can affect the customer's entitlement.

If the child goes overseas to live in another country, the customer will cease to be considered the principal carer for that child immediately the child departs as they are no longer a dependent child. Any payment or concession paid to the customer for the care for the child will cease on the departure date.

If a child leaves Australia temporarily or was born outside Australia, the customer will generally still be regarded as the principal carer for up to 6 weeks, even if the customer remains in Australia.

A person cannot be the principal carer of any child who has been outside Australia for more than 6 weeks unless the customer is outside Australia with that child and they are still entitled to the social security payment they were receiving when they left Australia (that is, the customer's maximum portability period has not ceased).

If a customer has ceased to be the principal carer of a child because they have been outside Australia for more than 6 weeks and the child returns to Australia for less than 6 weeks before going overseas again, the customer will cease to be the principal carer of that child for the entire period of the later absence.

The customer must continue to meet qualification rules as an apprentice while they are outside Australia for Austudy to be paid under portability provisions.

If a customer remains outside Australia after their payment has stopped for a portability related reason, continuation of payment on their return to Australia may be possible. Generally, payment can be automatically or manually restored if they return to Australia within 13 weeks of their payment stopping.