Residence assessment for customers claiming Family Tax Benefit (FTB), Parental Leave Pay (PPL) and Dad and Partner Pay (DAP) 007-05020020

To be eligible for FTB, PPL or DAP, a customer must be residing in Australia and satisfy one of the following:

• have Australian citizenship
• hold a permanent visa
• hold a Special Category visa (subclass 444, either protected or not)
• hold a visa subclass 403 (granted under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) stream and the person has been approved for Family Accompaniment) - FTB Only
• be a holder of certain temporary visas that qualify customers for some payments and be in Australia

A customer who is outside Australia temporarily is generally considered to still be residing in Australia.

From 1 January 2019, a Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) applies to some family assistance, PPL and DAP payments.

Residence requirements for FTB

FTB customers must meet the above residence requirements at the date of claim and throughout the entire period they receive FTB, including for backdated periods.

Customers must also satisfy a 52 week NARWP for FTB Part A, or be exempt from the NARWP. There is no NARWP for FTB Part B.

FTB children must also meet residence requirements. An FTB child must be one of the following:

• an Australian resident, or
• a Special Category visa holder living in Australia, or
• living with the adult

In deciding whether a child is 'living with' the individual, the ordinary meaning of 'living with' is used, that is, is residing, dwelling or occupying the same home. The living arrangement must have a degree of permanence, for example, a short visit with a child who is still residing overseas is not likely to constitute 'living with'. For more information, see Family Tax Benefit (FTB) child of a person.

The customer's partner does not have to meet any residence requirements for the customer to be eligible for FTB. However, if the partner is to be included on the customer's FTB maximum rate Health Care Card (HCC), they must meet the residence requirement for FTB and provide proof of their eligibility.

Residence requirements for PPL

For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, the PPL period will be removed. This means:

• all days are to be treated as flexible PPL days, and
• a nominated start date for the PPL period will no longer be required

Australian residence requirements remain unchanged.

To be eligible, claimants must meet the residence requirements:

• on the date of birth/date of entry into care and on each of their PPL days, and
• on the date of claim determination

There is no requirement for claimants to meet the residence requirements between PPL days.

Father and partner payability is no longer dependent on the birth mother meeting the residence requirements.

For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023, to be eligible for the PPL period:

• primary claimants must meet the residence requirements for every day in the period from the date of birth or adoption of the child until the end of their PPL period
• secondary and tertiary claimants must meet the residence requirements for every day in the PPL period from the date they become the primary carer of the child until the end of their PPL period

For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2020 and before 1 July 2023, PPL includes 30 Flexible PPL days. To be eligible for a Flexible PPL day customers must still meet residence requirements on the date of birth or adoption of the child and on the nominated Flexible PPL day.

Note: a PPL child does not have to meet any residence requirements for the customer to be eligible for PPL. However if a child is overseas and the PPL claimant is living in Australia it may be appropriate to discuss who has primary care of the child.

Residence requirements for DAP

DAP is not payable for children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023. Fathers and partners will need to claim PPL.

For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023, a DAP claimant must meet the Australian residence requirements for each day in the DAP period. They do not have to meet the residence requirements on the date of birth or adoption of the child (unless this falls within the DAP period).

A DAP claimant must satisfy a 104 week NARWP at the start date of their DAP period, or be exempt from the NARWP.

Note: a DAP customer's partner or child do not have to meet any residence requirements for the customer to be eligible for DAP.

New Australian residents claiming FTB Part A, PPL or DAP are subject to a NARWP if their first permanent resident or Partner Provisional visa (PPV) (subclasses 309 or 820) is granted on or after 1 January 2019.

To serve the NARWP the customer must be physically present in Australia for the relevant period (52 weeks for FTB Part A and 104 weeks for PPL/DAP), as an Australian resident or as the holder of a specified visa subclass.

This means before the customer becomes payable they must meet the following waiting periods:

• PPL - one or more periods totalling at least 104 weeks must be completed before the date of birth or adoption of the child
• DAP - one or more periods totalling at least 104 weeks must be completed before the start date of their DAP period (for children born or adopted before 1 July 2023)
• FTB Part A (including all additional and ancillary benefits and payments) - one or more periods totalling at least 52 weeks

The NARWP does not apply to FTB Part B.

Periods outside Australia do not count as residence in Australia for serving the NARWP regardless of the qualifying visa type.

Customers may not have to serve the NARWP if they:

• have general exemptions from the NARWP
• hold, or have held a Special Category Visa (SCV) subclass 444
• hold a Remaining Relative (subclasses 115 and 835) and Orphan Relative (subclasses 117 and 837) visa
• hold a Pacific Engagement (subclass 192) visa – FTB only
• were granted a visa providing qualification for FTB, PPL or DAP prior to 1 January 2019
• are receiving a social security benefit, social security pension, Farm Household Allowance (FHA), PPL or DAP
• hold or have held a certain temporary protection type visa (currently subclasses 060, 070, 449, 785, 786, 790 and ZB-951 (coded as 787))

PPL

For children born or adopted on or after 1 July 2023, father and partner payability is no longer dependent on the birth mother having served, or being exempt from, the NARWP.

To be eligible, all claimants must have served, or be exempt from the NARWP on the date of birth/date of entry to care and on their PPL days.

Where a person is receiving an income support payment the day before a continuous block of PPL days of at least 10 consecutive weekdays, they will be exempt from the NARWP for the whole period. This includes weekend days in that period.

For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023, primary claimants must complete the NARWP before their child's date of birth or entry to care to meet residence requirements.

To be eligible for the PPL period, primary claimants must satisfy the residence requirements from the date of birth or adoption of the child until the end of their PPL period. To meet residence requirements, Primary PPL claimants must complete the NARWP before their child's birth or entry to care.

To be eligible for a Flexible PPL day, the customer must satisfy the residence requirements on the date of birth or adoption of the child and they must also have completed the NARWP the day before their nominated Flexible PPL day.

Secondary or tertiary claimants must satisfy the residence requirements from the date they became the primary carer of the child, until the end of their PPL period. Payment cannot be transferred to a secondary claimant if a primary claimant is still serving their NARWP on or after their child's date of birth or entry to care.

If a customer is eligible for PPL due to an exemption from serving the NARWP, their NARWP status:

• on the first day of the PPL period is applied for the entire PPL period plus any connected Flexible PPL days
• is checked for each individual Flexible PPL day that is not connected to a PPL period

DAP

For children born or adopted before 1 July 2023, DAP customers must complete the 104 week NARWP before the DAP period start date.

FTB claims with a 309 or 820 visa granted on or after 1 January 2019

For a person who holds or held a 309 or 820 Partner Provisional visa, the NARWP starts on the day the person:

• lodges an application for the relevant visa, and
• is present in Australia

In some cases, if the application date is before 1 January 2019, the system is not calculating the NARWP from the correct start date.

A person can generally claim and be granted FTB while temporarily outside Australia. A person will not be eligible for FTB if they are overseas and any of the following apply, the:

• customer is overseas for more than 6 weeks and absence is not due to deployment. See Discretion to extend portability period
• customer is the holder of a certain temporary protection-type visa
• customer is the holder of a Partner Provisional type visa (PPV) and is not overseas for an approved reason (for example, acute family crisis)
• customer is the holder of a PPV and has been overseas for any reason for more than 6 weeks

A person can generally claim and be granted PPL or DAP while they are temporarily outside Australia. A person will not be eligible for PPL or DAP if they are overseas and any of the following apply, the:

• customer has been absent for more than 56 weeks (short returns to Australia do not affect the original date of departure)
• customer is the holder of a certain temporary protection-type visa
• customer is the holder of a Partner Provisional type visa (PPV) and is not overseas for an approved reason (for example, acute family crisis)
• customer is the holder of a certain PPV and has been overseas for any reason for more than 6 weeks

To be eligible for SBP, a claimant must have otherwise been eligible for FTB if the child was not stillborn, within 26 weeks starting on the day of the child's delivery. Therefore, the residence requirements described in this procedure for FTB also apply to SBP claims.

If an SBP claimant is not able to meet the FTB residence requirements within 26 weeks of the date of the child's delivery, but the claimant or their partner become eligible for FTB for another child within 52 weeks of the stillbirth, they may be eligible for SBP under the FTB Part A eligibility test.

Customers are not required to serve the NARWP for SBP.

For further information, see Eligibility for Stillborn Baby Payment (SBP).

If a customer is not an Australian citizen, proof of the customer's residence status will be required to ensure residence requirements are satisfied.

A visa permits a non-Australian citizen to enter Australia for a certain period or to remain here indefinitely. The visa may state certain conditions the holder must meet and whether the holder is permitted to stay indefinitely or only for a certain period. The visa also states a subclass number.

Customers who arrived on a special category visa (New Zealand citizens who arrive in Australia using their NZ passport) do not usually have any evidence to support their visa status.

The customer's visa can often be verified directly via the Immigration Datalink with the Department of Home Affairs.

The new claim process will attempt a datalink with the Department of Home Affairs. If successful, the datalink will automatically record a customer and child's visa and movement information from 1 September 1994, and grants of Australian citizenship where available.

Where the datalink is unsuccessful, residence information will be recorded manually. If the Department of Home Affairs has provided the information, it will take precedence over any conflicting information provided by the customer. Once the Department of Home Affairs record matches with Centrelink, ongoing updates to movement information and visa changes will automatically record on the customer or child's record.

The customer must provide and verify information about residence prior to 1 September 1994, where necessary. Ask customers to provide a passport number to help verify the Department of Home Affairs information.

For current FTB customers, it may be necessary to update country of residence, visa information or Australian citizenship details. For assistance, see Activating the Department of Home Affairs datalink and contingency procedures if datalink is unavailable.