Germany Agreement and foreign pension information 106-04015000

The Agreement with Germany:

• started on 1 January 2003, and
• has a Supplementary Agreement to include double coverage provisions which started on 1 October 2008

The German Agreement allows customers to lodge a claim for payment from either country. It also allows customers to add together periods of residence in Australia and periods of social security coverage in Germany, to meet the minimum requirements for payment.

Australian payments covered:

• Age Pension
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Carer Payment (CP)
• Parenting Payment Single (PPS)
• Double Orphan Pension (DOP)

Note:

• Only ‘severely disabled’ customers can be granted DSP outside Australia
• CP is limited to carer partners of Age Pension or DSP customers
• Only 'widowed persons' can be granted PPS
• The DOP and Bereavement Smart Centre Processing Team assess and code all DOP claims. Re-categorise DOP claims to ZIAM_DOP_NCL. For help, see Bereavement/Double Orphan Pension Helpdesk

Customers can claim Australian payments under the Agreement by contacting Services Australia or the German authorities.

German payments covered:

• Old Age Pension
• Invalidity Pension
• Survivor Pension

Customers can claim a foreign pension by contacting Services Australia or the German authorities.

Information on how International Agreements work and general concepts used in agreements is contained in International Social Security Agreements.