Newstart Allowance (NSA) 001-03000000

To qualify for NSA a person must have:

• been 22 years and over and under Age Pension age
• met Australian residence requirements for JSP
• been:
• unemployed or
• unable to look for work due to a temporary medical condition, illness or injury
• been prepared to negotiate and enter into a Job Plan if required to do so, or comply with, or renegotiate an existing Job Plan
• satisfied the requirements of a Job Plan

Job seekers were subject to RapidConnect where they had 14 days from the date they were advised of their RapidConnect requirements.

The RapidConnect appointment determined the start date of the job seeker’s income support payment (subject to any waiting periods and qualification requirements).

A number of factors may have affect the RapidConnect payability start date. If after 29 days the job seeker has not attended their initial provider appointment, the claim would automatically reject.

To satisfy residence criteria for NSA, the customer must have met all of the following requirements:

• be an Australian resident
• generally must be in Australia at the time the claim was lodged
• remain an Australian resident throughout the period of payment, and
• satisfy a 2 year (104 week) or 4 year (208 week) NARWP

The length of the NARWP changed from 1 January 2019 and was determined by the visa subclass and grant date of the customer’s first permanent residence visa.

• The customer had a 2 year (104 week) NARWP if:
• their first permanent residence visa was granted before 1 January 2019, or
• they hold or have held a visa subclass 115, 117, 835 or 837
• Otherwise, the customer had to serve a 4 year (208 week) NARWP

Alternatively, they may have an exemption from the NARWP in certain circumstances.

If a claim was rejected due to the NARWP and the customer lived on Norfolk Island before 1 July 2016, see Requesting and coding additional residence data for Norfolk Island claims.

A non-protected SCV holder who has lived continuously in Australia for a single period of at least 10 years immediately before claiming may qualify for NSA for a single continuous period of up to 6 months (182 days). For more information, see New Zealand 10 year residence exemption.

If a customer was granted NSA under the New Zealand 10 year residence exemption their payment could not be restored on return to Australia if there was any gap between the date of suspension/cancellation and the date of restoration. This exemption could only be used once, the customer could not be re-granted NSA again under this exemption.