Applicants for permanent residency eligibility for Medicare 011-44020000

Customers can apply for permanent residency or a protection visa and can do this:

• offshore (outside of Australia), or
• onshore (in Australia)

There are different types of permanent residency visas including protection visas. The legislation states that an applicant for a permanent resident visa must hold a valid temporary visa. It does not specify the type of visa.

Customers can enrol in Medicare if they meet all the criteria. When the customer enrols, they will receive a blue 'interim' Medicare card.

A customer is eligible to enrol if they:

• apply for a permanent residency or protection visa, and
• are onshore (Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) displays if the customer is onshore), and
• have permission to work

This does not include a Parent visa.

Also see the Resources page in Medicare eligibility for enrolments.

Customers must supply documents to enrol in Medicare.

If customers do not have permission to work, they are only eligible for Medicare if they:

• have a relationship with a parent, de facto, spouse or child who resides in Australia and who is:
• an Australian citizen
• New Zealand citizen, or
• holds a permanent resident visa
• were residing in a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) country immediately before coming to Australia, and meet the criteria of that country, they can enrol under RHCA

See the Process page for more details.

If the customer's:

• visa details are shared through an electronic data link with Home Affairs, the system automatically extends eligibility, using the allowable card extension periods. See the Resources page for more details
• Medicare eligibility did not automatically extend, manually extend using the allowable extension periods. The customer must continue to meet the visa application criteria. A customer is eligible to extend their entitlement if:
• their valid visa has not been refused, and
• they have permission to work

If the customer does not have permission to work, they are only eligible to extend if they have a relationship with a parent, de facto, spouse or child who resides in Australia and who is:

• an Australian citizen
• New Zealand citizen, or
• holds a permanent resident visa, and resides in Australia

The customer must supply documents to extend their eligibility for Medicare. See the Process page for more details.

If a customer's visa has been refused, see Appeals to visa refusal.

See Table 3 on the Process page for more details.

A customer may have their visa application refused by Home Affairs. When an application is refused, Home Affairs will issue the customer with a notice telling them of the decision. The customer's Medicare entitlement will end and Services Australia will issue a system generated letter automatically to inform the customer about the change in Medicare entitlement.

The customer can appeal the decision by Home Affairs to refuse their visa application with the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).

Note: Prior to 14 October 2024 the Administrative Review Tribunal was known as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

Customers are eligible for Medicare while appealing the decision. To re-enrol customers must provide the following:

• a completed Medicare enrolment form (MS004)
• evidence of an appeal (for example an ART or AAT letter)
• a valid visa with permission to work, and
• an identification document, that is, passport or ImmiCard

See Ministerial orders and Medicare eligibility for customers who have an adverse outcome with their Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) subclass 191 visa. If customers are appealing their refusal, see Table 3 on the Process page for more details.

Note: the evidence of appeal from ART or AAT must be dated within 2 years of the date of processing.

Child born in Australia to parent/s who have lodged an appeal

For a child born in Australia to parent/s who have lodged an appeal against a visa refusal before the child's birth, see Child born in Australia enrolling in Medicare for more details.

New Zealand citizens living in Australia are eligible for Medicare and can apply for permanent residency.

Do not add an immigration data link to these enrolments. This incorrectly changes or ends the customer's Medicare eligibility.

New Zealand citizens enrolled in Medicare as an applicant for permanent residency may have their application refused. In these cases, update the customer's Medicare entitlement to reflect their New Zealand citizen eligibility. Do not refuse a Medicare card in these cases.

For help, see Amending a New Zealand entitlement type.

From 1 July 2023, New Zealand citizens who have been living in Australia for 4 years or more, are eligible to apply directly for Australian citizenship:

• they no longer need to first apply for, and be granted a permanent visa
• these changes apply to New Zealand citizens holding a Special Category (subclass 444) visa (SCV) that arrived in Australia after 26 February 2001

Home Affairs introduced 2 new pathways for permanent residency and customers are eligible for Medicare as a Conditional Migrant if they hold:

• Permanent Residence (Hong Kong) (Regional) subclass 191, commenced 5 March 2022
• Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) subclass 191, commenced 16 November 2022

Red Cross help people who have arrived in Australia with limited financial means.

The customer is:

• subject to constant review by the Red Cross, and
• must provide immigration documents to enrol in Medicare

Medicare eligibility of these customers is no different to other customers from overseas.

For refugees who do not have photo ID, see Table 2 on the Process page for more details.

Service Officers must escalate all applications received under Asylum Seekers Assistance Scheme and Red Cross Refugees, to Local Peer Support in PaNDA (ME_Escalations) to Medicare Consumers Program Support for processing. See Escalation process for Medicare Eligibility.

Home Affairs share details with Services Australia for customers who:

• are Migrants (includes customers who have a permanent resident status before or after arriving in Australia)
• are Conditional Migrants (includes customers who have a temporary resident visa and have applied for a permanent visa. For example, a spouse of an Australian citizen)
• live in Australia and have applied for a permanent resident visa
• have applied under a Ministerial order and the visa has been granted

The shared details are via an electronic data link, and display the status of the customer's visa application with Home Affairs:

• Lodged
• Withdrawn
• Refused, or
• Granted

Service Officers can access the above in CDMS. The Home Affairs link is used when enrolling or amending a customer's record.

The Home Affairs link may not be present on CDMS. This is often because it has been a short time since the customer:

• first arrived in Australia, or
• has lodged their visa application

The details Home Affairs sends via an electronic data link may change a customer's Medicare entitlement.

When Home Affairs refuses an application for permanent residency or a protection visa, Medicare entitlement ends. CDMS automatically issues a letter to the customer to inform them about their Medicare entitlement.

For example, a customer has a Conditional Migrant status with Medicare. Home Affairs shares a data link advising the customer is now a permanent resident. This automatically updates the customer's Medicare record.

If a customer's data link is not on the system, they can still enrol in Medicare.

Service Officers must access VEVO when processing applications. This includes:

• initial enrolments
• extensions, and
• change of entitlement type from Conditional Migrant to Migrant

See Access VEVO (Visa Entitlement Verification Online) program.

• Identification documents must be verified for all customers enrolling and re-enrolling in Medicare using the Medicare DVS Portal
• If an application is received and processed in a service centre, Medicare DVS is only required if the Service Officer is not satisfied with the validity of the documents

See Identity verification for Medicare enrolments and re-enrolments in the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal for more details.

Note: if a customer submits a DME application, DVS is completed in the MEE Portal. See Digital Medicare enrolments (DME) and the MEE Portal.

For Medicare eligibility some expired identity documents can be accepted if they can be successfully verified through the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal.

Common accepted expired documents:

• expired foreign passport linked to a current Australian visa
• expired ImmiCard that has not been cancelled

For more details on acceptable identity documents, including all expired identity documents see, Medicare identity documents A to Z.

See Medicare eligibility for customers with permanent resident status.