When and how to tell us about your travel

You need to tell us if you or your child are leaving Australia and any of the following apply:

• either of you are going to live in another country
• either of you will be outside of Australia for more than 6 weeks
• either of you haven’t been back in Australia for at least 6 weeks since you last returned
• you get Parenting Payment under a social security agreement with another country.

You must also tell us if you’re travelling and both of these apply:

• we’ve approved paying you as a single person when you have a partner
• you’re leaving Australia to spend time with your partner.

You can tell us about your travel plans and provide supporting documents online.

If you Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, sign in now to do this. If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to create them.

Sign in to myGov

We may ask you for supporting documents about your travel. If we do, you should give us your evidence supporting documents before you leave Australia. The documents you need to provide depend on your circumstances. If you don’t give us the evidence before you leave Australia, your payment may stop when you depart. If we’ve stopped your payment, we’ll reassess it once we get your supporting documents.

You can also use your online account to get information on how your travel could affect your payments and concession cards.

If you can’t use an online account, tell us your travel plans by either:

• calling the Families line
• going to a service centre.

Australia’s immigration department will tell us when you or your child leave. They will also tell us when you or your child return.

Read more about payments while outside Australia.