Living in Australia if you get NZ Super or Veteran's Pension

Your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payment will keep being paid for up to 26 weeks after you leave New Zealand (NZ).

For these payments to continue after 26 weeks, you need to do certain things.>

1. First, we look at whether you used an SSA country to meet the residence criteria.
2. Then what you need to do depends on whether you already get Australian Age Pension (AAP) or not.

If you used an SSA country to meet residence criteria

When you applied for NZ Super or Veteran's Pension, you may have had to use a Social Security Agreement (SSA) country to help you meet the residence criteria.

This means you may have included time you spent:

• living in a country that NZ has a SSA with, and/or
• contributing to a SSA country's pension scheme.

If you used time in Australia to meet the residence criteria, you can live in Australia.

If you used another SSA country, you need to meet the residence criteria without using the time spent from that country.

What to do if you don't already get Australian Age Pension

For payments to continue, you need to:

• meet the criteria for AAP (this includes being age 67 or older on or before the day you leave NZ)
• apply for the AAP within 26 weeks of leaving NZ, and
• apply to continue getting your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payment - you need to apply within 12 months of applying for AAP.

If you don't apply for these payments within the required timeframes, you'll need to pay back any payments you received after you left NZ.

If both of these applications are declined, your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payments will stop from the date your AAP is declined.

What to do if you already get Australian Age Pension 

You have to apply to continue to get your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payment. You need to apply within 26 weeks of leaving New Zealand.

If you don't apply within this timeframe, your NZ payment will stop after 26 weeks. You'll need to pay back the 26 weeks of NZ payment you received after you left NZ.

Step 1 - Contact International Services

Contact our International Services team before you leave NZ. Let them know the date you're leaving.

What passport to use when travelling to Australia

When you go to Australia, it’s best to travel on either your:

• New Zealand passport, or
• Australian passport, if you have one.

This will make it easier to work out whether you meet the criteria for Australian Age Pension.

Step 2 - Contact Services Australia

Contact Services Australia within the first 26 weeks of leaving NZ. You need to apply for an Australian Age Pension (AAP) from them.

Once Services Australia have processed your AAP form, they'll send you a NZ payment application form. This form is to continue your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payments.

Step 3 - Complete NZ payment application form

You need to complete this form and send it back to Services Australia.

We'll get a copy of the form and use it to work out:

• whether your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payments can continue, and
• how much you can be paid.

If Australian Age Pension is declined

If your Australian Age Pension application is declined because of:

• your income or assets, we'll most likely decline your NZ payment application.
• another reason, e.g. residency requirements, we may still approve your NZ payment application.

If we decline your NZ payment application, your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension payments will stop from the date your AAP is declined. We'll then review the NZ payments you received since you left NZ. We do this to make sure you were getting the right amount of payment during this time.

If you've got the Special Banking Option

You may be getting an overseas pension paid into a Special Banking Option account. The Special Banking Option is only available if you live in New Zealand.

You'll need to arrange with Centrelink to have your payments made to your own bank account. It's best to arrange this before you leave NZ.

Once payments start going into your own bank account, let us know. That way we can make sure you're getting the correct payments from us.

You’ll get your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension at the same rate you would get if you lived in NZ. This rate will continue until you apply for Australian Age Pension (up to 26 weeks). Then your rate of payment may change.

The amount we pay you may be less than what you got in NZ. This might be because:

• you have a partner included in your payment, as once you leave NZ they can no longer be included
• you get any other payments, eg, Disability Allowance or Accommodation Supplement, which you cannot get after you leave NZ
• you have lived in a country other than New Zealand or Australia, or
• you have income and/or assets that affect how much you can get for Australian Age Pension. (We can't pay more than what Services Australia tell us your Australian Age Pension would be).

If your application is approved, we'll review your 26 weeks of payments. We do this to make sure you were getting the right amount of payment during this time.

Details of how much you'll get are set out in the Social Security Agreement we have with Australia.

You’ll get your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension at the same rate you would get if you lived in NZ. This rate will continue for up to 26 weeks.

Changes to this rate will start once:

• your Australian Age Pension (AAP) is approved, and
• your NZ payment application is approved.

These rate changes will then be backdated to the date you applied for AAP. For example, if you applied for AAP within one week of leaving NZ, your rate change will be backdated to week one.