Australian residence rules for New Zealand citizens 106-06010020

A person arriving in Australia using a New Zealand passport is generally allocated a Special Category visa (SCV). An SCV holder can remain indefinitely in Australia and have access to Australian services similar to that of a permanent visa holder.

The social security rules relating to SCV holders are in line with those that apply to all other migrants to Australia. There are special provisions to make sure SCV holders who were already residing in Australia on or around 26 February 2001 are not disadvantaged.

To be entitled to most social security payments, New Zealand customers who take up residence in Australia after 26 February 2001 need to:

• have a permanent visa, or
• have Australian citizenship, or
• be a protected Special Category visa (SCV) holder. To be considered a protected SCV holder an SCV holder must have been:
• in Australia on 26 February 2001, or
• in Australia for at least 12 months in the 2 years immediately before 26 February 2001, or
• issued with a 'Certificate of Australian Residence' AUS223 form (formerly XOB073) by Centrelink International Services (CIS)

Services Australia originally issued the certificate to customers between 26 February 2001 and 2004, for the purposes of possible future claims for social security payments and to support applications for Australian citizenship. The certificate represents a residence decision made by Services Australia under section 7(3) of the Social Security Act that either the customer:

• began residing in Australia within 3 months of 26 February 2001, or
• was residing in Australia on 26 February 2001, but was temporarily absent from Australia on the day

The agency only issues the certificate to customers who have been, or should have been, assessed under transitional SCV provisions.

CIS can reissue these certificates if needed. New assessments may be considered if the customer made contact with Services Australia within required timeframes.

In 2018, the AUS223 form replaced the XOB073 letter representing the certificate.

All customers who are New Zealand citizens must have a New Zealand residence status, protected/non-protected, recorded before a claim for most payments can proceed. If a customer does not already have a status recorded, their immigration records will be automatically checked in a new claim activity or when New Zealand citizenship is recorded.

The system will automatically verify the customer as a protected SCV holder if the immigration records show they were an SCV holder in Australia:

• on 26 February 2001, or
• for 12 months in the 2 years immediately before 26 February 2001

If the customer first arrived in Australia after 26 May 2001, the system will automatically record them as a non-protected SCV holder. If the system cannot automatically assess the status (for example, customer arrives in Australia between 27 February 2001 and 25 May 2001) it will:

• generate an automatic activity, and
• send the activity to CIS

Note: the new claim action cannot proceed until CIS manually records the status.

Customers who are correctly assessed as 'protected' SCV holders will never lose their 'protected' status. These customers will continue to be considered legal Australian residents, unless their visa is cancelled or revoked. See Recording legal residence status.

New Zealand citizens who were present on Norfolk Island on 26 February 2001 or in Australia (including Norfolk Island) for 12 months in the 2 years immediately before that date are considered to have held an SCV at that time. CIS staff will assess these cases manually. For more information see Requesting and recording additional residence data for Norfolk Island claims.

Note: due to a system limitation, a customer may have an incorrect New Zealand residence status automatically coded. For example, only 80 immigration movements can be uploaded onto a customer’s record in one activity. Movements on dates relevant to the protected or non-protected status may not come through the datalink. Therefore the system may code an incorrect status. CIS manually correct these cases.

The Status active: field displays below the New Zealand residence status: field on the Legal Residence Details (RSLEG) screen. This field is display only. It indicates if the New Zealand residence status is active or not at the system date.

The field will display:

• Y if the customer has a current 444-visa subclass
• N if the:
• customer's 444-visa subclass has ended and they have no other current 444-visa subclasses, or
• RSLEG screen has been manually updated with an entry of NCV (No Current Visa)
• Blank if the customer has no value recorded in the New Zealand residence status: field

Non-protected SCV holders generally do not qualify for income support payments. They may qualify for:

• parental leave payments, family assistance and concession cards
• certain disaster and emergency payments, or
• a payment under the Social Security Agreement between Australia and New Zealand. See New Zealand Agreement and foreign pension information

Under the New Zealand 10 year residence exemption they may also qualify for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA), if they:

• are a non-protected SCV holder, and
• have lived in Australia and/or Norfolk Island continuously for at least 10 years immediately before making their claim

SCV holders (protected and non-protected) have to serve a Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period (NARWP) (or have an exemption) for some payments and concessions. For some payments and concessions they are not required to serve a NARWP. See Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Period (NARWP) and Qualifying Residence Period.

From 1 July 2023, New Zealand citizens can apply for Australia citizenship without needing to be granted a permanent visa first if they:

• hold a non-protected SCV subclass 444
• have been in Australia for 4 years (as assessed by the Department of Home Affairs), and
• have held an SCV for at least 12 months immediately prior to the date of application

Note: applications for Australian citizenship, including related residence decisions, are assessed by immigration. See the Resources page for a link to the Home Affairs website which has information about citizenship eligibility.

Australian residence periods calculated for Centrelink purposes may be different to residence periods calculated by immigration for granting citizenship. For Centrelink purposes, a person is considered to have legal permanent residence status from the date they are granted Australian citizenship. Unless they have previously held a permanent visa. See Australian residence requirements for payment.

Australian citizens are exempt from serving the NARWP however need to meet the relevant qualifying residence period when claiming Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Parenting Payment unless another exemption applies.

The Immigration Datalink will normally advise when a customer who is a New Zealand citizen is granted Australian citizenship. It will display on the customer’s Legal Residence Details (RSLEG) screen.