Adrian has kept it short and to the point. He wants to know how long he can travel before it affects his Age Pension payments, but the answer isn’t as simple as the question.
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Q. Adrian
How long can you be out of Australia before it affects your pension?
A. If you leave Australia for less than six weeks, your pension rate won’t change in most cases.
If you leave Australia for more than six weeks, your pension supplement will drop back to the basic rate and your energy supplement will stop.
Read: How does Centrelink assess caravans?
If you leave Australia for more than 26 weeks, your rate will depend on how long you were an Australian resident between the age of 16 and the Age Pension age.
The rates for Australian residents aged 35 years or more won’t change – in most cases. If it’s less than 35 years, you should expect a lower rate. For example, if you were a resident for 10 years, you will get 10/35ths of your usual rate.
If you are travelling you will need to advise Centrelink if:
- you plan to be away for more than six weeks
- you get the Age Pension under an arrangement with another country
- your partner is still in paid employment
- you are leaving Australia within two years of coming back to live and have started getting the Age Pension since then
- you receive an income while living overseas
- you are going to live in another country
- you are planning to receive the Age Pension under a social security agreement with another country.
Read: Will my mother lose her pension?
You will also have to tell Centrelink if your circumstances change, just like if you are in Australia, as some changes can affect your payment, especially if you start to receive employment income.
You don’t need to let Centrelink know you have returned to Australia unless your payment or concession card stopped while you were away, if you are returning to live or if Centrelink has asked for evidence for your reason for travel and you have not provided it.
The easiest way to inform Centrelink of your plans is to use an online Centrelink account through myGov, which will also be handy while you are travelling as you can access services and notifications online.
For any further clarification, make an appointment with a Centrelink financial services information officer on 132 300.
Have you travelled overseas while on the Age Pension? Were the Centrelink requirements easy to navigate? Why not share your experience in the comments section below?
Last time I was overseas I stayed considerably longer than planned. As expected, after 6 weeks, my pension dropped to the basic level. The bank converted this to Thai Baht.
There were no medical benefits for foreigners of course, and full fees were paid to the doctor, the dentist, plus any prescription medicine.
I don’t think it seems strange to me alone, because when a person changes location, this should not cancel all the merits and efforts that he has already made for the state, which should finance him with good pension payments! But if such a question still arose, I would recommend personally contacting the office to clarify everything. https://ssa-office.com/