Residence assessment for customers claiming Disability Support Pension (DSP) 008-03050010

This document outlines how to assess if a customer meets the residence requirements to qualify for DSP and if they have served, or are exempt from serving the qualifying residence period.

Residence criteria

To satisfy the residence criteria for DSP, a customer must meet all of the following:

be an Australian resident
generally must be in Australia at the time the claim is lodged, and
generally must remain an Australian resident throughout the period of payment

In addition, a customer must meet one of the following:

have been an Australian resident at the time when:

due to the impairment, their Continuing Inability to Work (CITW) occurred, or
their permanent blindness occurred

was an Australian resident at the time the Secretary was advised the person is participating in the Supported Wage System (SWS)
has 10 years qualifying Australian residence
has a qualifying residence exemption, or
qualifies using an international social security agreement

Note: other qualification criteria for DSP also have to be met.

Australia has a number of international social security agreements that cover DSP. Agreements may help a customer to receive DSP even if they:

are not an Australian resident and in Australia, and/or
do not meet the minimum Australian residence period to qualify but have lived or worked in an agreement country that covers DSP

Where the Medical Assessment Team MAT (SA479) has recommended to reject DSP for medical reasons IME (Insufficient medical evidence) or NDT (Not diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised) reject the claim for the relevant medical reason. Do not reject the claim for reason NRQ (Not residentially qualified) and do not refer to CIS.

If a claim is rejecting for reason NSR (insufficient qualifying residence) and the customer lived on Norfolk Island before 1 July 2016, see Requesting and coding additional residence data for Norfolk Island claims.

It may be necessary to code a former resident override to prevent the system applying former resident rules if a customer:

lived on Norfolk Island immediately before arriving in Australia for residence, and
never lived in Australia previously

DSP customers must remain an Australian resident on an ongoing basis unless they are exempt from the ongoing residence requirement.

If rejecting a DSP claim, ensure the correct rejection reason is used. Do not reject the claim for reason NRQ under any circumstances. If the customer is not eligible for DSP due to not meeting residence criteria, the system will reject the claim for the correct residence reason. See the Assessing residence matrix on the Resources page of Rejecting a new claim for Disability Support Pension (DSP) including manifest rejections for the correct reason to use.

The Resources page contains a link to contact details for Centrelink International Services (CIS).

Operational Information

Residence assessment for customers claiming Disability Support Pension (DSP) 008-03050010

Residence criteria

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