International Social Security Agreements 106-04000000

This document outlines general information on Australia's international social security agreements. Most agreements have rules that are specific to that agreement only. For detailed information on each individual agreement, including coding of foreign pensions from that country, refer to the relevant agreement file.

Government intent

Social security agreements are international treaties made between Australia and another country, relating to social security. Agreements generally come about through the wish to coordinate the social security systems of each country to close gaps in coverage for people who work in and move between the countries.

Both countries seek to share responsibility for a customer's overall retirement income and may pay a part pension based on how long the customer has lived and/or worked in each country.

Note: the agreement with the United Kingdom was terminated with effect from 1 March 2001.

What agreements do

Agreements generally allow customers to claim and continue to receive certain payments when they move between the countries. Agreements override the normal rules under the social security law and usually affect lodgement, qualification, portability and the rate of payments that are covered by the agreement.

While agreements generally allow access to payments that would not otherwise be payable, many impose extra conditions that must be satisfied, for example, Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers usually need to be severely disabled before they can use an agreement.

Most agreements avoid the need for people who live in one country but work temporarily in the other country to have to pay compulsory social security contributions in both countries. This is referred to as double coverage.

Agreements provide for administrative cooperation between the countries and authorise the exchange of information required to assess entitlements. A separate administrative arrangement is used to detail agreed procedures including the processing of claims and exchanging information.

The Resources page contains basic examples of totalisation for Australian payments under agreements, links to International homepages, agreements, sample forms, foreign documents and translations, and a chart of which payments are covered by the various international agreements. This page also provides links to the Services Australia website, providing information on payments whilst overseas and Centrelink International Services.

Austria Agreement and foreign pension information

Belgium Agreement and foreign pension information

Canada Agreement and foreign pension information

Chile Agreement and foreign pension information

Croatia Agreement and foreign pension information

Cyprus Agreement and foreign pension information

Czech Republic Agreement and foreign pension information

Denmark Agreement and foreign pension information

Estonia Agreement and foreign pension information

Finland Agreement and foreign pension information

Germany Agreement and foreign pension information

Greece Agreement and foreign pension information