Maryanne dreams of retiring in the UK and wants to know if she will still be eligible for an Australian Age Pension. In Centrelink Q&A, we explain how an overseas pension works.
Q. Maryanne
I currently receive the Disability Allowance and will be eligible for the Aged Pension when I turn 66 (in just over three years’ time). It is my dream to move to the UK to retire. I have made inquiries with Centrelink and I believe my pension can be paid while I live overseas.
My question is: when I apply for the Aged Pension, do I need to reside in Australia for the two years before I move? I have dual citizenship as my father was born in the UK; however, I have never lived there.
A. The good news is that the two-year residency rule applies only to those who have lived overseas and returned to Australia to claim an Age Pension.
You will be able to move to the UK and have your Age Pension paid at an Outside Australia rate. You will be paid every four weeks. From 1 January, 2018, your Pension Supplement will be stopped if you are outside Australia for more than six weeks.
All content on YourLifeChoices website is of a general nature and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It has been prepared with due care but no guarantees are provided for ongoing accuracy or relevance. Before making a decision based on this information, you should consider its appropriateness in regard to your own circumstances. You should seek professional advice from a Centrelink Financial Information Services officer, financial planner, lawyer or tax agent in relation to any aspects that affect your financial and legal circumstances.
(correction: pension supplements cease after six weeks)
If you have a Centrelink question, please send it to newsletters@yourlifechoices.com.au and we’ll do our best to answer it for you.
Related articles:
Claiming your pension overseas
Age Pension overseas
Will my overseas pension be affected?
