Residence requirements for ABSTUDY 010-02030020

To satisfy residence criteria for ABSTUDY, the student or Australian Apprentice must:

• be an Australian citizen, and
• normally live in Australia

The residence requirements for ABSTUDY apply to the student or Australian Apprentice only. They do not apply to the parents/guardians or partner of the student or apprentice.

New students and Australian Apprentices may be required to provide proof of their Australian citizenship to Services Australia if they have not previously done so. Documents that can help to verify citizenship are an Australian:

• birth certificate
• passport (current or expired)
• Citizenship Certificate

Follow Proof of Australian citizenship to verify citizenship.

The Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) does not apply to ABSTUDY.

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

Where the datalink is unsuccessful, residence information will need to be manually recorded. If immigration has provided the information, it will take precedence over any conflicting information provided by the customer.

Once the immigration record is matched with Centrelink, ongoing updates to movement information will be automatically recorded on the customer's record.

The decision about whether a customer is or was residing in Australia, needs to be manually assessed and recorded by the Service Officer. This information is not provided by the datalink.

ABSTUDY claimants are not required to be payable immediately before the day of departure to be paid for the duration of their overseas study as part of their approved Australian course. The procedure, ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) customer going overseas has further details.