Return to Australia coding for dependent children 061-03030000

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.

If the customer and/or child has an active immigration datalink, their return date will generally be automatically updated when they return to Australia.

For those customers or children who do not have an active immigration datalink, the date they returned to Australia will need to be manually recorded.

If the customer advises a change to the date of return to Australia for their children, the change will need to be manually recorded.

If the customer did not advise of their child/ren's departure and the departure has not been recorded (that is, via the immigration datalink), the departure coding must be done before the return to Australia can be assessed and recorded. The Portability Script - Departures and Returns cannot be used for child only absences from Australia or for CCS, FHA, DOP or ABSTUDY.

Every customer's address (including postal address) and telephone contact details (including mobile phone numbers) must be checked at every contact, and updated if required.

If a child remains outside Australia after payment has stopped for a portability related reason, continuation of payment on their return to Australia may be possible. Generally, payment can be automatically or manually restored if they return to Australia within 13 weeks of their payment stopping.

Auto-issued concession cards that list dependent children are portable for up to 6 weeks provided the main payment is portable for this period. If the customer has been outside Australia for longer than the maximum portability period, the concession card is automatically reinstated when the customer returns to Australia and the payment has been restored.

Customers will need to reclaim a Low Income Health Care Card if:

• it has been cancelled because the customer has been outside Australia for more than the maximum portability period
• it was issued for a child only and the concession has been cancelled because the child was outside Australia for more than 6 weeks

If the child repeatedly goes overseas for long periods with short returns to renew their portability, it may indicate that the child is actually residing overseas.

If a customer's child ceases to reside in Australia, or the customer's ongoing care for the child becomes an issue, payments for children such as Family Tax Benefit (FTB) and Child Care Subsidy (CCS) can be affected. A child must remain an Australian resident or be living with a customer to continue to be a dependent child.

If the Service Officer is not satisfied that the child is continuing to reside in Australia or be in care, payment should be cancelled immediately from the date that the child ceased to reside in Australia or be in care.

If an absence, or multiple absences with short returns to Australia between the absences, exceeds approximately 3 years, continuing Australian residence is questionable.

If a customer whose payment has been suspended or cancelled because their child has had multiple absences and then returns to Australia, ensure that the child/ren is/are still residing in Australia or still in the customer’s care before the customer's payment is restored or re-granted.

If the payment is restored or re-granted, any future absences should be checked very carefully before making the portability decision to ensure that the child is still residing in Australia.

If the last qualifying child of a Parenting Payment customer has been outside Australia for longer than 6 weeks, the child must remain in Australia for at least 6 weeks before Parenting Payment is again portable.

If a customer's child has been outside Australia for longer than 6 weeks from their original date of departure, they must remain in Australia for at least 6 weeks before they can be considered an eligible child for portability purposes. If these children remain in Australia for less than 6 weeks, they are taken not to have returned to Australia for the purpose of future payability outside Australia.