Medicare eligibility for New Zealand citizens 011-44050000

New Zealand citizens enrolling for the first time in Medicare must prove their identity and residency by providing:

• a Medicare enrolment form (MS004) or Digital Medicare Enrolment (DME), and
• a valid New Zealand passport for each person, and
• 2 residency documents dated within the last 6 months

Only 2 residency documents are needed for a family, if all family members:

• are New Zealand citizens, and
• arrived in Australia on the same day

When a New Zealand customer cannot provide 2 residency documents after being in Australia for 6 months or more, they can submit a Commonwealth statutory declaration along with any documents they have. See Escalation process for Medicare Eligibility.

Note: if the customer was enrolled on a Medicare card with other family members, and those members have not returned to reside in Australia, the customer needs to be transferred to a new Medicare card.

The customer does not need to complete an Application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another (MS011) form.

If the Medicare enrolment form (MS004) is incomplete or documents are missing, Service Officers must request details. See Medicare eligibility and enrolments request for information.

If the DME documents are incorrect, see Digital Medicare enrolments (DME) and the MEE Portal.

To verify documents for enrolments, see Identity verification for Medicare enrolments and re-enrolments in the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal.

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

See Table 1 in Register a customer for Medicare in the Consumer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS).

After registration of a new customer:

• select Entitlement on the Registration Type screen
• the New Medicare Entitlement Details screen will show:
• Entitlement Type - New Zealand citizen
• Country of relevance - New Zealand (or previous country of residence)
• Entitlement Start Date - Date of arrival
• Entitlement End Date - Not applicable (open Medicare card)

Note: when processing a DME, International Movement Records (IMR) are not required for customers where the date of arrival on the application is different to the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) date in the MEE Portal.

• Select Documents tab
• Select or key the details of each of the customer’s eligibility documents:
• Eligibility Document (mandatory)
• Residency Document (mandatory)
• Reference Text (mandatory)
• Reference Date (mandatory)
• Select Add
• Repeat above to enter all eligibility documents provided

A New Zealand citizen who has been absent from Australia for 12 months or more, can be reinstated in Medicare when they provide evidence that they have returned to Australia to live.

Note: if there is a Consumer end date in Personal Details and the Consumer end reason is ‘Residing Overseas’, see Amend customer details in the Consumer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS) for Medicare.

New Zealand citizens re-enrolling in Medicare must prove their identity and residency by providing:

• a Medicare enrolment form (MS004) or Digital Medicare Enrolment (DME), and
• a valid New Zealand passport for each person, and
• 2 residency documents dated within the last 6 months

Only 2 residency documents are needed for a family, if all family members:

• are New Zealand citizens, and
• arrived in Australia on the same day

When a New Zealand customer cannot provide 2 residency documents after being in Australia for 6 months or more, they can submit a Commonwealth statutory declaration along with any documents they have. See Escalation process for Medicare Eligibility.

Note: if the customer was enrolled on a Medicare card with other family members, and those members have not returned to reside in Australia, the customer needs to be transferred to a new Medicare card.

The customer does not need to complete an Application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another (MS011) form.

If the Medicare enrolment form (MS004) is incomplete or documents are missing, Service Officers must request details. See Medicare eligibility and enrolments request for information.

If the DME documents are incorrect, see Digital Medicare enrolments (DME) and the MEE Portal.

To verify documents for re-enrolments, see Identity verification for Medicare enrolments and re-enrolments in the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal.

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

Once eligibility is established, add the new entitlement details and record all documents.

On CDMS home page:

• Select Amend Consumer Details
• Key the customer's Medicare card number in ID Number field
• Select Entitlement
• The New/Additional Medicare Entitlement Details screen will show:
• Entitlement Type: New Zealand Citizen
• Country of Relevance: Country of residence before returning to Australia
• Entitlement Start Date: Date of arrival
• Entitlement End Date: Not applicable (open Medicare card)

If a New Zealand citizen has been absent from Australia for more than 12 months:

• the previous entitlement must be end-dated 12 months after the date of departure (if known), and
• the if the exact date of departure is not known, the end-date is 12 months from the end of the known departure year. That is, 12 months from 31 December of the advised year of departure

Note: when processing a DME, International Movement Records (IMR) are not required for customers where the date of arrival on the application is different to the VEVO date in the MEE Portal.

• Select Documents tab
• Select or key the details of each of the customer’s eligibility documents:
• Eligibility Document (mandatory)
• Residency Document (mandatory)
• Reference Text (mandatory)
• Reference Date (mandatory)
• Select Add
• Repeat above to enter all eligibility documents provided

A New Zealand citizen who has been previously enrolled as a conditional migrant or migrant can have their entitlement details amended in Medicare. They have to provide evidence that they have returned to Australia to live.

Note: if there is a Consumer end date in Personal Details, see Amend customer details in the Consumer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS) for Medicare.

Customers updating their Medicare entitlement from conditional Migrant or Migrant to New Zealand citizen must provide:

• Medicare enrolment form (MS004) or Digital Medicare Enrolment (DME), and
• valid New Zealand passport

Customers must provide these documents for each person listed on the enrolment form or listed in their Digital Medicare enrolment (DME) application.

Note: if the customer is amending their entitlement after returning from residing overseas their entitlement start date is their date of arrival. Two residency documents dated within 6 months of date of lodgement are required to prove residency in Australia.

If the:

• Medicare enrolment form (MS004) is incomplete or documents are missing, Service Officers must request details. See Medicare eligibility and enrolments request for information
• DME documents are incorrect, see Digital Medicare enrolments (DME) and the MEE Portal

To verify documents for enrolments, see Identity verification for Medicare enrolments and re-enrolments in the Medicare Document Verification Service (DVS) Portal.

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

Once eligibility is established, add the new entitlement details and record all documents.

On CDMS home page:

• Select Amend Consumer Details
• Key the customer's Medicare card number in ID Number field
• Select Entitlement
• The New/Additional Medicare Entitlement Details screen will show:
• Entitlement Type: New Zealand Citizen
• Country of Relevance: Previous country of residence
• Entitlement Start Date: New Zealand Passport date of issue
• Entitlement End Date: Not applicable (open Medicare card)

If a New Zealand citizen has been absent from Australia for more than 12 months:

• the previous entitlement must be end-dated 12 months after the date of departure (if known), and
• the if the exact date of departure is not known, the end-date is 12 months from the end of the known departure year. That is, 12 months from 31 December of the advised year of departure

• Select Documents tab
• Select or key the details of each of the customer’s eligibility documents:
• Eligibility Document (mandatory)
• Residency Document (mandatory)
• Reference Text (mandatory)
• Reference Date (mandatory)
• Select Add
• Repeat above to enter all eligibility documents provided