7.2.3.30 Transferring to Age for a recipient overseas

Transfers to Age under SSAct subsection 43(1) & SS(Admin)Act section 12

A recipient of an income support payment can be automatically transferred to Age, under SS(Admin)Act section 12, when or immediately before they become qualified for Age. A claim for Age does not have to be lodged for transfer to occur. Transfers may be completed where a recipient is absent from Australia if they become qualified for Age while overseas.

In order to be automatically transferred to Age, individuals are required to meet the 10 year qualifying residence requirement. The only exceptions to this are for individuals who have a QRE, recipients otherwise exempt from the 10 year requirement (e.g. JSP transfers), and agreement pensioners.

Individuals who require the use of a social security agreement to qualify for a transfer to Age are subject to the provisions of the relevant agreement (i.e. those individuals who do not have 10 years' qualifying residence may use the totalisation provisions of a social security agreement to meet the residence requirement). Transfers to Age, for this group of recipients, are made under the social security agreement and so benefit from the agreement lodgement provisions which allow a claim to be made outside of Australia.

Individuals remain agreement pensioners until such time that they qualify for Age autonomously. Transfer to an autonomous pension for those residing overseas only occurs if the recipient returns to Australia as an Australian resident, with a clear intention to remain permanently, and meets the qualifying residence requirement.

Note: People receiving WidB, PA or WA when they otherwise became qualified for Age were not required to have 10 years' Australian residence. WidB ceased from 20 March 2020 and recipients were transferred to Age under separate provisions.