7.1.5 Portability under social security agreements

Introduction

Australia’s international social security agreements (1.1.A.120) are contained in the SS(IntAgree)Act. These agreements change the basic provisions of social security law, including in relation to portability, for people covered by the agreement.

Each international social security agreement has its own portability rules for the payments and categories of people it covers. It is therefore important to check the relevant agreement.

People and payments not covered by an agreement have their portability determined under the normal portability provisions in the SSAct (7.1.1).

How portability provisions work under agreements

Portability provisions are specified in each individual international social security agreement. All payments covered under the scope of the agreement are portable to the agreement country and some agreements also allow portability to a third country.

Some agreements have bespoke portability rules, which may be shorter or longer than the provisions in domestic legislation. Other agreements apply the normal portability provisions in the SSAct.

Example: CP under an agreement will only be portable to a third country for 6 weeks where the agreement relies on the normal portability provisions in domestic legislation.

People on payments with limited portability (DSP, CP or PPS) can be 'transferred' to and paid under an agreement, if the agreement with the country they are travelling to covers their payment and the agreement provides for a longer portability period.

A new claim does not need to be lodged to affect the transfer. If approved, their payment will be paid at a rate set by the agreement.

Agreements may have additional or stricter criteria for payments. For example, to access DSP under an agreement, a person generally has to be severely disabled (1.1.S.110) and PPS is generally only available under an agreement for people whose partner has died and, for some agreements, only for women whose legal husband has died. A person must meet any additional or stricter criteria under the agreement to be 'transferred' to and paid under that agreement.

People paid under an agreement that applies the normal portability rules in domestic legislation may be covered by savings provisions relating to previous changes to the domestic legislation. See 7.1.7 for further information on savings provisions.

Note: If a person who is receiving a payment covered by the New Zealand Agreement (for example, age pension, DSP, CP) remains in New Zealand for more than 26 weeks, or intends to stay in New Zealand for 12 months or more, their rate will be affected by the rate provision of the New Zealand Agreement, even if they receive their payment autonomously in Australia (10.2).