Student studying outside Australia 102-07020170

If a customer is leaving Australia to live in another country, overseas study provisions cannot be applied. Under general portability rules, payments will cease on departure. However, some payments may continue under the general portability rules of that payment. See Portability of Payments.

If the customer is receiving ABSTUDY, see ABSTUDY student or Australian Apprentice going overseas.

If a student or Australian Apprentice is leaving Australia temporarily and receiving one of the payments allowing extended portability for approved study, they may be paid for the duration of their absence if they satisfy approved overseas study provisions.

If a student or Australian Apprentice is receiving:

• Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA), the Service Officer in the service centre or Smart Centre is responsible for assessing the customer's eligibility for payment while outside Australia:
• Austudy, see Austudy customer going overseas
• Youth Allowance, see Youth Allowance (YA) customer going overseas
• Carer Payment (CP), Disability Support Pension (DSP), or Parenting Payment (PP) the case must be referred to Centrelink International Services (CIS) to assess if the study provisions apply to a customer and code the departure

The parent/guardian applicant whose student already qualifies under the normal Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) criteria may continue to be eligible to receive AIC if the student is participating in an international student exchange. Certain other conditions apply. Service Officers should contact the relevant AIC Smart Centre for advice. The AIC Smart Centre only can do assessments of eligibility.

Before a making a decision as to whether payments allowing extended portability for approved study can be paid for overseas study, it is essential to determine that:

• immediately before leaving Australia, the customer is payable (different rules apply for Austudy and Youth Allowance, ensure the correct file is used)
• immediately before leaving Australia, the customer is undertaking full-time or approved concessional load study in an approved course or is a continuing/intending student
• students continue to satisfy the payment specific student qualification criteria (ensuring this provision can continue to apply)
• Australian Apprentices continue to have a current Commonwealth Registration Number
• the overseas study/training will contribute to and be credited towards a full-time course in Australia
• a student who travels overseas to undertake a work placement is still eligible

The customer must:

• advise their date of departure from Australia, return date (if known), and
• provide written advice confirming proof of the reason for their absence

Generally, a customer studying externally (for example, by correspondence or online) will not have to attend a campus overseas to complete units of their approved course. However, external students can access extended portability under overseas study provisions if they can demonstrate their primary reason for going overseas is to undertake studies that form part of the course. This could be a residential component at an overseas institution or an overseas work placement provided it is part of the Australian course.

A customer may only be paid for student exchange programs if they remain enrolled and undertaking an approved course at an approved Australian institution. This is rarely the case for secondary students.

A student or Australian Apprentice granted portability for overseas study or work can continue to receive payment for the duration of the approved absence. The approved period may include additional travel time to allow them to prepare for the study and/or to finalise their affairs and return to Australia.

Customers in receipt of Carer Payment (CP), Disability Support Pension (DSP) or Parenting Payment (PP), can also be paid during short holiday periods before and after the approved period outside Australia. Payment for such holidays is limited to their maximum portability period, which is generally 6 weeks (for DSP customers 28 days in a rolling 12 month period outside Australia). The approved overseas study period may start after the customer's maximum portability period has ceased. In such cases, it may be possible to restore payment while overseas following a break in entitlement.

The return rule for payments allowing extended portability for approved study means, if a customer has been granted an approved overseas period, a brief return to Australia of up to 6 weeks does not interrupt the approved portability period, so no new portability decision would be required.

No longer enrolled. A number of students undertake study overseas following a recommendation from their faculty; however, do not remain enrolled with their Australian institution. These students will not continue to qualify for benefits if they are studying overseas.

Immediately before leaving Australia, the (non-ABSTUDY) customer must be in receipt of an eligible payment and be:

• undertaking full-time or approved concessional load study in an approved course, or
• a continuing/intending student

When running the Portability Script - Departures and Returns, choosing to assess portability is based on the customer being paid before they leave Australia. If not, do not use the script, record details of the overseas absence separately on a DOC.

The payment cannot be paid until the person returns to Australia if:

• a customer has recently claimed as a non-continuing new student and
• will not become qualified and payable until after they leave Australia

Reject such claims and tell customers as soon as possible, so they can change their travel plans if needed.

Continuing students who lodge a claim before leaving Australia may start receiving payment after they leave Australia from the date they become payable.

If a customer is also receiving PES overseas, they can continue to be paid if they remain eligible for their main income support payment. If they are outside Australia where their main payment ceases, entitlement to PES will also cease.

Always use the Portability Script - Departures and Returns when assessing a customer's departure. Do not use the portability script for ABSTUDY customers.

The portability script will:

• assess all non-ABSTUDY student customer's entitlement to payment while outside Australia and,
• record details on the customer's record

The departure will be recorded if the customer advises in advance. However, the absence will not be assessed until the customer actually leaves Australia. If the script is available, and the customer is in receipt of payments (see 'New claims' above), use the script to code the absence from Australia.

A letter can be sent to the customer confirming the outcome and providing contact details for Services Australia while outside Australia.

The Department of Home Affairs generally advises when a customer or child leaves or returns to Australia. The Centrelink system uses the information to assesses the portability of payments and concession cards. The assessment will happen regardless of whether the customer has told Services Australia their travel details. Note: do not cancel Department of Home Affairs datalink activities.

Where the customer gives evidence they travelled on different dates, the agency should consider using those different dates, if both the following apply:

• the new dates are logical
• the results will be a better outcome for the customer

This most often happens if a customer passes through Australian customs on one day but the flight leaves the next day.

In many cases, customers do not have to tell the agency if they are leaving Australia temporarily for less than 6 weeks, or when they have returned from a temporary absence.

When customers do need to tell us about a departure before leaving Australia or when they have returned to Australia they can use the Travelling outside of Australia service. This service is in their Centrelink online account. If the travel or portability assessment is complex the online service will ask them to contact the agency.

Services Australia website lists when customers must tell the agency they are leaving or returning to Australia. The Resources page has a link.

A customer's portability period starts on the day they leave Australia. For portability purposes, a customer is not considered to be inside Australia for any part of the day they departed Australia regardless of the time of departure. If the customer is travelling outside Australia on a cruise, the date of departure is the date the ship leaves the last Australian port.

The day a customer returns to Australia is not included as part of their absence as they are considered to be inside Australia on that day, regardless of the time of return, and therefore no longer affected by portability. If they leave and return on the same day, for example airline crew, this is not considered a departure from Australia for portability purposes.

If a customer travelling for an approved reason advises they are departing on a specific date, and they then depart Australia more than 3 days before or more than 3 days after the advised date, any specific negotiated period of portability approved for the original date of departure will cease to apply. The customer's approved reason for travel outside Australia may no longer be valid. Payments may cease when the immigration datalink verifies the customer's actual date of departure or when reaching the maximum general portability period.

Customers must advise of any change in their departure details prior to travel if they wish to be paid during the absence. Service officers can assess if the approved reason still applies and record the new departure date and reason again.

If the customer is unable to return after the end of the maximum portability period, Services Australia has the discretion to extend the period of portability under specific circumstances.

Compliance teams undertake enrolment checks at least twice a year with secondary and tertiary institutions and will detect whether or not students have maintained their enrolment with the Australian institution. If not, overpayments will be raised for the period the students are not enrolled. It is therefore essential for the Service Officer to ensure the student provides details of their study and confirmation of their enrolment before the student's departure.