Residence requirements for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme 010-03030030

Was the applicant or student born overseas?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 5

Check the Legal Residence Details (RSLEG) screen to determine if residence and/or citizenship details have been obtained previously. A refresh of the Immigration Datalink on the Immigration Enquiry (RSIMME) screen may be required.

If either the applicant or student are a New Zealand citizen or an Australian permanent resident, and this information has not yet been confirmed through documentation provided or Immigration Datalink, they will need to provide evidence of their New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residence.

Evidence could include one of the following:

• Australian citizenship papers
• passport or visa showing permanent resident status and all subsequent passports
• a New Zealand passport showing all Australian arrival and departure stamps over the past year

If evidence is not available, Services Australia should arrange to verify the information for the customer. See Commencement of Identity.

Do not ask the customer to obtain evidence from the Department of Home Affairs as the cost of obtaining documents can be significant.

Check the Country of Residence (CRES) screen. See Assessing if a customer is an Australian resident.

If the applicant and/or student is:

• a New Zealand citizen, go to Step 3
• an Australian permanent resident, go to Step 5

Are the student and applicant permanently settled in Australia?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, the applicant and/or student do not satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10

In addition to the definition of permanently settled, New Zealand applicants and students must satisfy one of the below residence rules.

Both the applicant and student must have lived in Australia:

• continuously for 6 months or more, or
• within a 6 month period, has had only one absence that:
• is less than a two week period, and
• the student remained enrolled in schooling with an Australian education provider, and
• can demonstrate continuity of residence in Australia in that period, or
• for 12 months with no more than two months absence in that period, or
• for 12 months with more than two months absence but can demonstrate continuity of residence in Australia in that period

Has the applicant and student met any of the above criteria?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, the applicant and/or student do not satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10

Are the applicant and student living in Australia during the year of study?

• Yes, the applicant and student satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Continue to process the claim. Procedure ends here
• No, and the person is not residing in Australia is the:
• student, go to Step 6
• applicant, go to Step 7

Students may continue to be eligible for AIC where they are:

• participating in an international student exchange and the student:
• remains enrolled at an Australian education provider, and
• the overseas study is credited to their Australian studies, and
• is not required to repeat all or part of that study in Australia, and
• is continuing to incur the costs in Australia for which the allowance is being paid (for example, if the Australian boarding school is still charging full boarding fees while the student is on exchange)
• receiving AIC Distance Education Allowance (DED) and remains eligible whilst temporarily overseas as per Eligibility for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme Distance Education Allowance

Does the student meet one of the above exceptions?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, the student does not meet the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10.

Is the applicant's absence temporary? (less than two years)

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, the applicant does not satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10

Is the principal family home in Australia?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, the applicant does not satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10

Does the family home continue to meet one of the geographical isolation rules (where applicable)?

• Yes, the applicant and student satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Continue to process the claim. If the claim is incorrectly rejecting – NZ student not residentially qualified (REJ NZQ), go to Step 11, otherwise procedure ends here
• No, the applicant and/or student do not satisfy the residence requirements for AIC. Go to Step 10

New Claim:

In the relevant student(s) record(s):

• finalise the claim coding and go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• confirm claim is rejecting, ‘Not Residentially Qualified’ (NRQ)
• if manual claim rejection is required:
• Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen, code
• Service Reason: field, EIC - Assistance for Isolated Children
• Action: field, REJ – Reject
• Reason: field, OTH
• Effect Date: the date the claim was submitted
• Complete Source: and Receipt Date: fields
• Select Submit Change
• Assessment Results (AR) > ASC: field > key Y to suppress the BLA letter
• Assessment Consequences (ASC) > Letters Action: field > key INH
• Record all details in a DOC, including the relevant policy references
• Letter Display (LD), generate the Q679 AIC - Rejection/Request Information and insert the following text:

'We cannot pay Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) for <student name> because you (or student name) do (not) not meet the Australian residence requirements as per AIC Policy Guideline 2.2.1 – ‘Australian citizenship or permanent residency’ (for applicant) or AIC Policy Guideline 3.2.1 – ‘Australian Citizenship of permanent residency' (for student)

Manual payment cancellation:

In the relevant student(s) record(s):

• Go to the Benefit Action (BA) screen, code
• Service Reason: field, EIC - Assistance for Isolated Children
• Action: field, CAN
• Reason: field, OTH
• Effect Date: the date the change in residence occurred (i.e. the permanent visa end date +1, or the date they were no longer considered to be permanently settled)
• Source: field, as appropriate
• Receipt Date: field, the date the applicant notified
• Select Submit Change
• Finalise the activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• Record details in a DOC, including the relevant policy references
• Generate a manual Q679 letter and insert the following text:

'We can no longer pay Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) for <student name> because you (or student name) do (not) not meet the Australian residence requirements as per AIC Policy Guideline 2.2.1 – ‘Australian citizenship or permanent residency’ (for applicant) or AIC Policy Guideline 3.2.1 – ‘Australian Citizenship of permanent residency' (for student)

Procedure ends here.

Due to a known system problem, the claim may incorrectly reject - NZ student not residentially qualified (REJ NZQ), where the student or applicant have been outside Australia during the period they otherwise qualify for AIC.

On both the applicant and student record:

• view the Immigration Advised Movements (RSIM) screen and note all the departure and return dates and countries
• update the Customer Advised Travel Details (RSCD) screen with the departure and return details with a reason of HOL or OTH

Where the system only pays from the last arrival date in Australia, the following action is required:

• search for the ‘Support when assisting students issues’ webform in mySupport
• complete the form and quote PM34065. This escalates the record to the Centrelink Payments Support Team (CPST) for support to finalise the claim

The Resources page has a link to mySupport.

Procedure ends here.