Customer is going overseas long term – entitlement check and record transfer 061-02020000

If the customer plans to go overseas for more than 12 months, additional payment methods are available. This procedure contains information to help a Service Officer to transfer the customer's record so they can access these services, and to record the overseas absence.

A customer going overseas long term may either:

• continue to receive payment into their Australian bank account
• have their payment paid directly into an overseas bank account

See Delivery of payments to Centrelink customers outside Australia.

Service Officers must use the Portability Script - Departures and Returns to determine the customer's entitlement overseas. CIS will conduct the interview, by phone, if the customer is a CIS pension customer – that is they are going overseas and payable for longer than 26 weeks. CIS also conduct the portability for DSP, Carer Payment and Parenting Payment customers going overseas to study.

Note: Youth Allowance (YA) or Austudy) customers studying overseas stay under the domestic service/Smart Centre.

CIS will determine if the customer's payment is payable:

• for long term overseas absences, or
• when a customer is leaving Australia to live in another country

CIS will consider the customer's circumstances and the specific portability rules applicable for their payment type:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)

CIS pension customer records with an overseas payment destination are the only records that should be transferred to or created in Environment I.

CIS may need to request a Job Capacity Assessment (JCA) for DSP customers to determine if the customer is eligible for indefinite portability under the no future work capacity' portability provisions, or because they are considered to be severely disabled.

Assessment Services are responsible for scheduling all JCA appointments. The medical information obtained is used to decide whether the customer satisfies the medical qualification for long term payment overseas. If a customer goes overseas without having this assessment done, payment will stop from the end of their maximum portability period (or on departure if they are leaving Australia to live in another country).

A terminally ill customer may also need to have a form completed before departure.

The system will automatically generate a Manual Follow-up (MFU) ‘CIS to assess long term overseas entitlement’ on a customer’s record:

• when a customer has been overseas for 12 months
• whether the departure was notified by the customer or not

These are actioned by CIS staff, who may need to investigate the customer’s circumstances further.

Staff can make a new residing in Australia decision at any time, however there are some instances when it must be checked or coded.

Staff should review the decision when:

• the customer advises a change of circumstances, or
• Services Australia becomes aware of a change to the customers’ circumstances, which may affect the decision

The CRES screen must be checked and/or coded:

• for all new claims of any Centrelink payment or concession card to enable correct assessment of:
  • current Australian residence status
  • Qualifying Residence Periods
  • Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP), and
  • possible entitlement to a Comparable Foreign Payment (CFP)
• when a customer leaves to live in another country
  Note: staff must use the Portability Script - Departures and Returns to record any departure from Australia
• when a customer goes overseas
• when a customer who is living overseas, arrives in Australia to reside (for the first time), or returns to Australia to resume residence
• when a customer changes the country they are living in. This is particularly important if the customer is moving from, or moving to, New Zealand
• when Age Pension or Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers go overseas and will continue to be payable for more than 26 weeks. This enables the system to determine the correct working life residence to be used when calculating the proportional rate after 26 weeks absence
  Note: although historical residence needs to be recorded, the customer's departure from Australia should only be coded on the CRES screen if a decision is made that the customer is residing in another country
• if a customer is granted using an international agreement, or will transfer to an international agreement after departure from Australia
• for any Age Pension and DSP customers who are departing within 2 years of returning to Australia for residence. This will enable former resident rules to be correctly assessed
• if prompted by the Portability Script - Departures and Returns
• when a ‘I101PN: CIS to assess long term overseas entitlement’ manual follow up review is created. These reviews are created 12 months after a customer’s temporary departure from Australia, when they are recorded as residing in Australia on the CRES screen and are portable for more than 12 months. The review is for staff to check and update the customer’s country of residence if determined they are no longer residing in Australia (and complete any consequential actions such as vacation of home property).

Note: if the CRES screen is not coded when prompted by the script, the decision made by the script may be incorrect. This can result in:

• the customer getting misleading information, and
• Centrelink being liable for a compensation claim under Customer compensation and act of grace for Centrelink payments

The Department of Home Affairs generally advises when a customer or child leaves or returns to Australia. The Centrelink system uses the information to assesses the portability of payments and concession cards. The assessment will happen regardless of whether the customer has told Services Australia their travel details. Note: do not cancel Department of Home Affairs datalink activities.

Where the customer gives evidence they travelled on different dates, the agency should consider using those different dates, if both the following apply:

• the new dates are logical
• the results will be a better outcome for the customer

This most often happens if a customer passes through Australian customs on one day but the flight leaves the next day.

In many cases, customers do not have to tell the agency if they are leaving Australia temporarily for less than 6 weeks, or when they have returned from a temporary absence.

When customers do need to tell us about a departure before leaving Australia or when they have returned to Australia, they can use the Travelling outside of Australia service. This service is in their Centrelink online account. If the travel or portability assessment is complex the online service will ask them to contact the agency.

Services Australia website lists when customers must tell the agency they are leaving or returning to Australia. The Resources page has a link.

Customers leaving Australia are still required to notify any other changes to their circumstances that would normally affect their payment or concession card. Depending on the event, customers may be able to notify the change online. Refer to the Change of circumstances procedure for the relevant payment or concession card type.