Centrelink and the Age Pension abroad: what keeps paying and what stops

Some Centrelink payments travel with you. Most don't. The Age Pension is the big exception, and even it can shrink once you've been away six months.

The short version

• JobSeeker Payment, Carer Allowance, Special Benefit and Family Tax Benefit are not paid if you live overseas [1].
• The Age Pension can be paid indefinitely abroad, including if you move for good. After 26 weeks it may drop to a proportional rate unless you have 35 years of Australian working life residence [1][2].
• Energy Supplement and concession cards stop when you leave. From 20 September 2026, the Pension Supplement stops on the day you leave too [2].
• Australia has social security agreements with 32 countries. They can help you qualify, and in some cases claim from overseas. The UK isn't one of them [3].
• Tell Services Australia before you go, through your Centrelink online account in myGov, by phone or at a service centre [2][4].

The key word is "portability"

Centrelink uses portability to describe whether, and for how long, a payment keeps going while you're outside Australia. Every payment has its own rules, and you must keep meeting all the normal qualification rules while you're away [4].

Broadly, payments fall into three groups.

Short trips are a different story. Disability Support Pension, for example, can be paid for up to 28 days of overseas travel in a rolling 12-month period, counted across all trips [5]. Check the rules for your payment before booking anything, not after.

The Age Pension overseas, in detail

The first 26 weeks

For your first 26 weeks overseas, your base rate of Age Pension usually stays the same, as long as you still meet the rules [2]. Some extras stop straight away, though:

• Energy Supplement stops when you leave [2].
• Concession cards are cancelled [2].
• Pension Supplement drops to the basic rate. From 20 September 2026, it stops on the day you leave Australia instead [2].

After 26 weeks: the 35-year test

After 26 weeks, the question becomes your Australian Working Life Residence. That's the time you lived in Australia as a resident between age 16 and Age Pension age [2].

• 35 years or more: your rate generally stays the same [2].
• Less than 35 years: your pension may be cut to a proportional rate. Twenty years of working life residence, for example, may mean 20/35ths of the normal rate [2].

There's a twist for New Zealand. If you move there long term, Services Australia looks at your Working Age Residence, which is time in Australia between age 20 and Age Pension age. You need 45 years or more to keep your rate, otherwise it may be reduced straight away [2].

Long-term overseas pensioners are paid every four weeks, not fortnightly [2].

Things that can change your rate

Moving overseas often reshuffles your finances, and the income and assets tests still apply. Services Australia flags a few in particular [2]:

• a foreign pension, which can count as income
• selling your home in Australia
• buying property overseas
• special rules triggered by social security agreements or a recent return to Australia

Claiming the Age Pension when you're already abroad

This is where many people get caught. Age Pension age is 67 [6], and to qualify you generally need at least 10 years of Australian residence, with at least five of those unbroken [7]. You also need to be an Australian resident living in Australia on the day you claim, unless a social security agreement says otherwise [7].

That leads to three scenarios [1]:

1. You claim before you leave. You can lodge a claim up to 13 weeks before you reach Age Pension age. If you go this way, you must meet all the qualification rules on the day you turn 67. Services Australia recommends claiming before you leave.
2. You live in an agreement country. You can claim from there, as long as you meet all the qualification rules.
3. You live in a country without an agreement. You can't claim the Age Pension from there. You'd need to move back to Australia, or to an agreement country, to claim.

If you split your year between Australia and somewhere else, Services Australia decides your primary place of residence from your claim. That decides which of the three scenarios applies [1].

The two-year trap after coming home

If you move back to Australia, start the Age Pension after you return, and then travel overseas again within two years, your payment may stop [1][8]. The same two-year rule applies to Disability Support Pension [5]. Plan a "home for good, then one last big trip" carefully.

Social security agreements

Australia has international social security agreements with 32 countries: three in Asia, one in Australasia, 25 in Europe, two in North America and one in South America. An agreement with Uruguay was signed in August 2025 and is being put in place, and five more are being negotiated [3].

These agreements do two useful things [3]:

• They let you claim in either country, wherever you live.
• They combine your time. Periods of Australian residence can be counted with periods of contributions in the partner country, so you can meet minimum residence or contribution requirements you'd otherwise miss.

Some agreements also cover super and the partner country's equivalent contributions, so workers seconded between the two countries aren't covered twice [3].

What about the UK?

Australia's agreement with the United Kingdom ended on 1 March 2001. Australia terminated it because the UK would not change its policy of not indexing UK pensions paid to people living in Australia [3]. If you're an Aussie heading to London, don't count on an agreement to fill gaps in your residence record.

Telling Services Australia: the checklist

Before you leave, Services Australia wants to know you're going and how long for, so your payments are calculated correctly [4].

1. Make sure myGov works overseas. Set up a sign-in method that doesn't rely on an Australian SMS [4].
2. Report your travel in your Centrelink online account using the "Travelling outside of Australia" service, or call the line for your payment, or visit a service centre [2][4].
3. Report it before you go, not once you've landed [4].
4. Gather evidence if your payment depends on an approved reason for travel. For Disability Support Pension, evidence not given before departure can mean payment stops when you leave [5].
5. Keep reporting changes while you're away: income, assets, your address, a foreign pension starting, or a move to another country.

Two other things to sort at the same time. If you have a child support case, call the Child Support enquiry line before you go, because a child support debt can lead to a Departure Prohibition Order [4]. And Medicare won't cover you overseas, so arrange health cover first [4].

Before you book the one-way flight

If you're close to Age Pension age, the order you do things in matters more than almost anything else. Claiming before you leave, choosing an agreement country, and how many years you've lived here between 16 and 67 can make a large difference to what you receive. The Financial Information Service at Services Australia is free and can help you look at your retirement income [2]. For your super and tax, a licensed financial adviser and an accountant are worth the fee.

Sources

1. Retiring overseas – Services Australia
2. Thinking of retiring overseas? What it could mean for your pension – Services Australia, July 2026
3. About international social security agreements – Department of Social Services
4. Before you leave Australia – Services Australia
5. Travel outside Australia rules for Disability Support Pension – Services Australia
6. Who can get Age Pension – Services Australia
7. Residence rules for Age Pension – Services Australia
8. Travel outside Australia rules for Age Pension – Services Australia

Keep reading

• Your super while you live overseas
• Medicare when you live abroad
• Wills and power of attorney when you live abroad
• Moving back to Australia: the return checklist