Use this guide alongside the official service
Read the steps here first and keep the relevant documents or questions ready. Outside websites open in a new tab, so this guide stays here. To continue, return to the Pension Path tab or close the new tab.
If online steps are difficult, find phone, paper or in-person help.
Tell Centrelink before you leave
- Record your departure, expected return, countries and whether you intend to live overseas.
- Follow the official travel-reporting instructions. Immigration information does not replace every notification obligation.
- Ask how your pension, supplements and concession card will be affected.
- Check health, ambulance and insurance arrangements separately; Australian concessions do not establish overseas cover.
Supplements and cards have separate rules
From 20 September 2026, Pension Supplement stops after 12 weeks of temporary travel outside Australia, or on departure if you leave permanently. Older guidance about retaining a basic supplement is no longer current for this change.
Energy Supplement and the Pensioner Concession Card generally stop after six weeks outside Australia. These are separate from the main pension rules. Ask Centrelink about any exception that applies to you.
The main pension can change too
After 26 weeks overseas, many people's pension rate depends on Australian working-life residence. This is a legal residence measure, rather than simply how many years you worked. Agreement and grandfathering exceptions can change the result.
A recent return to Australian residence, foreign pension, agreement country or permanent move needs individual checking. Returning residents who leave again within two years can face restrictions. International cruises also count as overseas travel.
If you will live overseas
Ask International Services about agreements, payment arrangements, bank/currency requirements and reporting. Overseas income and assets remain relevant, including your partner's.
Some people receive a proof-of-life request. Follow its witnessing and return instructions by the deadline. Keep Centrelink's contact and correspondence arrangements up to date.
Help before booking or departing
Use Centrelink or International Services for the assessment of your actual dates and history. If online reporting is difficult, ask for telephone, interpreter or staff assistance. An old travel summary is not a safe basis for an extended trip.
Your next-step checklist
For your own notes. Ticks do not submit a claim or notify an agency.
Print or write down your steps if you prefer.
Official sources for this page
Guidance reviewed 5 October 2026. Source checks and content reviews are different: a successful download does not confirm that every rule is unchanged.
- Age Pension when you leave Australia (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Pension Supplement changes outside Australia (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Report overseas travel on Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- International Services help (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Residence rules for Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Overseas income and assets and Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Proof-of-life reviews for older overseas recipients (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
How we check sources and handle changes · Tell us about a correction