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Any of the following circumstances can affect your payment rate:
- how long you’re away
- if your income and assets change
- how long you were an Australian resident between 16 and Age Pension age
- if you get Age Pension under a social security agreement with another country.
Learn more about payments while outside Australia.
If you leave Australia for less than 6 weeks
Your Age Pension rate won’t change in most cases.
If you leave Australia for more than 6 weeks
When you reach 6 weeks after leaving Australia your:
- Pension Supplement will drop to the basic rate
- Energy Supplement will stop.
If you leave Australia for more than 26 weeks
When you reach 26 weeks after leaving Australia your rate will depend on how long you were an Australian resident between 16 and Age Pension age.
If you were an Australian resident for:
- 35 years or more, your rate won’t change in most cases
- less than 35 years, you’ll get a lower rate in most cases.
For example, if you were a resident for 10 years, you’ll get 10/35ths of your usual rate.
In most cases your rate won’t change if all of these apply. You were:
- getting Age Pension or another Australian social security payment while living outside Australia on 1 July 2014.
- an Australian resident for 25 years or more.
- not in Australia for more than 26 weeks since 1 July 2014, and getting Age Pension the whole time.
Your payment may not reduce or stop if you can’t return to Australia due to unforeseen circumstances. This includes a serious illness, public health crisis or natural disaster. If you have a Pensioner Concession Card, it will still cancel after you’ve been temporarily overseas for 6 weeks.
If you travel to New Zealand
The social security agreement we have with New Zealand can affect your payment.
Your payments may change from the date you arrive in New Zealand if you either:
- go there to live
- plan to be in New Zealand for more than 12 months.
Otherwise your payments may change after you’ve been in New Zealand for 26 weeks.
If you leave to live in another country
You’ll get an outside Australia rate, and from the date you leave your:
- Pension Supplement will drop to the basic rate
- Energy Supplement will stop.