Customers overseas on 20 September 2000 061-01030000

Indefinite portability

All Age Pension customers were portable indefinitely under the pre September 2000 rules. Note: although Age Pension was portable indefinitely, there were still situations where payment ceased on departure or 12 months after. For example, where customer was subject to former resident rules, customer was subject to a proportional rate and had no working life residence, customer was paid under an International Agreement which does not allow portability.

Exemptions from proportional rate

• Granted a pension before 2 July 1986, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985 and travelled to a non-Agreement country, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country before 1 January 1996, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country on or after 1 January 1996 and has not been an Australian resident since

Use of partner's working life residence (WLR) if higher

• If the customer is married to an Age Pension or Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipient and the partner has a higher WLR than the customer, the customer will be paid according to the partner's WLR
• If the customer was previously partnered to a customer and at the time they were both receiving either Age Pension or DSP pension and the partner died or separated from the customer and the former partner had a higher WLR than the customer, the customer will be paid according to the former partner's WLR

Length of portability before proportional rate

• If subject to a proportional rate, a customer has 12 months after departure rather than 26 weeks until proportionalisation or cancellation if WLR is zero

Advantages of the previous rules

• Portability rules prior to 20 September 2000 included several exemptions from a proportional rate
• The former rules allow a customer to use their partner's (or former partner's) WLR
• The length of absence before proportionalisation is 12 months rather than 26 weeks

Indefinite portability

• All customers granted before 12 November 1991, or
• Severely disabled customers granted on or after 12 November 1991

Exemption from proportional rate

• Inability to work occurred in Australia, or
• Granted a pension before 2 July 1986, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985 and travelled to a non-Agreement country, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country before 1 January 1996, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country on or after 1 January 1996 and has not been an Australian resident since

Use of partner's WLR if higher

• If the customer is married to an Age Pension or Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipient and the partner has a higher WLR than the customer, the customer will be paid according to the partner's WLR
• If the customer was previously partnered to a person and at the time they were both receiving either Age Pension or DSP pension and either the partner died or they separated and the partner has a higher WLR than the customer, the customer will be paid according to the former partner's WLR

Length of portability before proportional rate

• If subject to a proportional rate, a customer has 12 months after departure rather than 26 weeks until proportionalisation (or cancellation if WLR is zero)

Advantages of the previous rules

• The current rules do not allow indefinite portability to any customer who is not either terminally ill or assessed under the 'no future work capacity' portability provisions regardless of the date of grant
• Current rules do not allow any exemption from a proportional rate other than customers whose inability to work occurred in Australia
• Current rules do not allow a customer to use their partner's (or former partner's) WLR
• The length of absence before proportionalisation occurs is 12 months rather than 26 weeks

Wife Pension (WP) ceased 20 March 2020. WP customers who were Age Pension age 20 March 2020 automatically transferred to Age Pension, retaining their existing savings provisions.

Indefinite portability

Customers who are entitled persons, that is:

• customer is classified under the 'allegation authority' legislation (this means customer is the partner of a person involved in an allegation authority case); or
• customer has been an Australian resident for at least 10 years at some time

Limited portability period for some customers

Customers who are not entitled persons will receive payment overseas for 12 months before cancellation.

Exemption from proportional rate

• Partner is an allegation authority case and customer was granted a pension before 2 July 1986, or
• Partner is an allegation authority case and customer was an Australian resident on 8 May 1985 and travelled to a non-Agreement country, or
• Partner is an allegation authority case and customer was an Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country before 1 January 1996, or
• Partner is an allegation authority case and customer was an Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country on or after 1 January 1996 and has not been an Australian resident since

Advantages of the previous rules

• The portability period for not entitled persons is 12 months rather than 26 weeks
• Wife Pension partners of allegation authority cases were not proportional and could use their partner's WLR. Under the current portability rules, they are proportional and the rate is based on their own WLR
• The length of absence before proportionalisation occurs is 12 months rather than 26 weeks

WidB ceased 20 March 2020. WidB customers automatically transferred to Age Pension on 20 March 2020, retaining their existing savings provision.

Indefinite portability

Customers who are entitled persons, that is:

• customer is a 'dejure' widow (one who was legally married to her partner at the time when the partner died), or
• customer is classified under the 'allegation authority' legislation (this means customer was the partner of a person involved in an allegation authority case), or
• customer has been an Australian resident for at least 10 years at some time

Limited portability period for some customers

Customers who are not entitled persons will receive payment overseas for 12 months before cancellation.

Exemption from proportional rate

• Both customer and late partner were legally married and both were Australian residents when partner died, or
• Granted a pension before 2 July 1986, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985 and travelled to a non-Agreement country, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country before 1 January 1996, or
• Australian resident on 8 May 1985, travelled to an Agreement country on or after 1 January 1996 and has not been an Australian resident since

Use of late husband's WLR for a proportional rate

Customers subject to a proportional rate may use their former partner's WLR where they are not a de jure widow and:

• partner was classified as an allegation authority case, or
• former partner has died and former partner has more WLR than the customer

Portability period for customers who are not entitled persons

Customers who are not entitled persons will receive payment overseas for 12 months before cancellation.

Advantages of the previous rules

• Portability rules from 20 September 2000 do not allow the same number of exemptions from proportional rate
• Current rules also do not allow a customer to use their late partner's WLR
• Portability period for not entitled persons was 12 months rather than 26 weeks before cancellation occurs
• The length of absence before proportionalisation occurs is 12 months rather than 26 weeks

No entitlement to add-ons for the first 26 weeks of customer's absence from Australia.

Customers may be entitled to a portability extension if they reside overseas, are temporarily in Australia and are unable to depart due to unforeseen circumstances. The event preventing the customer's travel must have occurred within the 26 week period.

A discretionary extension must be for a definite period, during which time the customer's situation is expected to change and enable return to their usual country of residence.

The appropriate delegation to grant or reject an application for an extension of payment overseas, or to approve or reject an approved reason period of portability, is held by a specialist Service Officer in CIS. A Service Officer without this delegation must refer all requests to CIS specialist staff.

For contact details, see Centrelink International Services (CIS) contact details for staff.

Savings provision may be retained for Age Pension or Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers:

• saved under 20 September 2000 savings provisions
• who normally reside outside Australia, and
• who returned to Australia temporarily, and
• are unable to depart within 26 weeks due to an unforeseen circumstance

Does customer reside in Australia?

• No, go to Step 3
• Yes, standard return to Australia/portability rules apply

Procedure ends here.

Does customer have 20 September 2000 savings provision?

• No, go to Step 4
• Yes, go to Step 5

Does customer have 1 July 2014 savings provision?

• Yes, see Customers assessed under pre 1 July 2014 Australian Working Life Residence (AWLR) rules
• No, standard return to Australia/portability rules apply. Procedure ends here

Has customer advised this return is a temporary return to Australia?

• Yes, see Step 1 in Table 3
• No, this return is permanent. Procedure ends here

For more information, see Return to Australia procedures for Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff.

This decision may only be made by a Service Officer with appropriate delegation in CIS.

The following all need to be satisfied in order to grant a portability savings extension. If one of these is not met, then the request should be rejected:

• Their situation is included in the listing of acceptable extension reasons according to Subclause 128(1) of Schedule 1A of the Social Security Act. These include:
• Serious accident: customer or family member
• Illness: customer or family member
• Hospitalisation: customer or family member
• Death of a family member
• Custody proceedings
• Criminal proceedings
• Robbery/Serious crime: customer or family member
• Natural disaster in Australia
• Public health crisis in Australia
• The situation can be proved; and
• The event occurred or began during the initial period of 26 weeks of a temporary return where the Age Pension or Disability Support Pension (DSP) customer was subject to portability savings

Is the portability savings extension being granted?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

Suggested advice to customer:

'Under normal circumstances you will lose your portability savings after 26 weeks in Australia. With the portability savings extension, you will continue to maintain the benefits of your portability savings until the end of the extension.'

• Determine the date customer is able to depart Australia; apply extension until then
• Determine the Date of Event (DOV) for use on RSCD screen. This will be the start date of the extension, i.e. the date they would have lost their portability savings

The portability extension must be recorded in Customer First:

• The RSCD screen should show the travel details advised by the customer. If the customer advised travel details is blank, complete as follows:
• Code the arrival date for the relevant arrival in the Event Date field
• Under the Portability Reason heading, code the Event Date field as follows:
• Use the date that the customer will lose their portability savings from
• Complete the coding required:
• Country of Location AUSTRALIA
• Portability Reason: EXT
• Portability End date
• Ext Rsn
• Code the Source and DOR fields
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check the results are correct
• Do not inhibit the advice
• Finalise the activity

Check that the portability savings indicator on RSS/PSV (as appropriate) is correct. If the savings indicator has changed from Y to N (for example, when coding the extension retrospectively), this will need to be manually updated back to Y.

• Select Continue

The EXT start date should commence after the end of the 26 week portability savings period. For example, customer arrives in Australia on 1 January 2022. The allowable portability savings period of 26 weeks expires on 1July 2022. The coding start date for portability savings extension will be 2 July 2022.

Note: the portability extension will move the date that the savings provisions on RSS/PSV will change from Y to N, from 26 weeks after the customer’s arrival in Australia, to the extension end date +1. If the customer remains in Australia after the extension end date, the savings provision will be changed.

Also note that any change to the RSCD screen, where a retrospective decision is applied, ensure that the PSV screen is displaying the savings provision correctly. If not, this will need to be updated manually.

Go to Step 3.

The delegate must use the Portability Extension Processing script where possible to record the decision and send a grant letter to the customer. In Customer Record, search for ‘Portability Extension Processing’ in the Script Selector.

If manually recording the decision DOC due to a script problem, it must contain a summary line recommending a decision to grant the extension.

Go to Step 6.

• Go to the RSCD screen in Customer First
• The RSCD screen should show the travel details advised by the customer. If the customer advised travel details is blank, complete as follows:
• Code the departure date for the relevant departure in the Event Date field
• Code the travel destination country in the Country field
• Code the date the portability savings ended in the Event Date field
• Code 'EXT' in the Portability Reason field
• Code the relevant portability extension reason in the Ext Rsn field. Select the EXT reason from the drop down box
• Code the Source and DOR fields
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check that the results are correct
• Do not inhibit the advice
• Finalise the activity

Go to Step 5.

The delegate must use the Portability Extension Processing script where possible to record the decision and send a rejection letter to the customer. In Customer Record, search for 'Portability Extension Processing' in the Script Selector

If manually recording the DOC due to a script problem, it must contain a summary line recommending a decision to reject the extension.

The DOC must be detailed and cover:

• the customer's payment type
• the customer's date of return
• why the customer has advised they are unable to depart Australia within 26 weeks, and whether it is an acceptable reason as per the relevant legislation
• whether acceptable verification was received and if not, details of the evidence provided and why it was not suitable
• where required under the legislation, the date of the event preventing the customer’s departure from Australia and whether it occurred during the person's limited portability savings period, and
• why the customer's situation fails to meet the criteria in the legislation

Go to Step 6.

• Complete the necessary free text in the XOB999/Q999 letter generated by the Portability Extension Processing script
• Print and issue the letter
• Make 2 genuine attempts to contact by phone to advise the customer of the outcome. Ensure the customer is aware if they remain in Australia after the extension period ends, they will lose their portability savings permanently