Overview
Residency means to live or dwell in a place permanently or for a considerable time.
One of the basic requirements when lodging a claim for service pension, income support supplement (ISS) or veteran payment, is that the person lodging the claim, or the person on whose behalf the claim is lodged, is an Australian resident and is physically present in Australia at the time of claim.
A person not residing in Australia, who is already in receipt of certain types of pension, may be eligible to transfer to ISS or a service pension.
An additional requirement to have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of ten years applies to Commonwealth and Allied veterans and Allied mariners. However, if such a person is a refugee, former refugee, or became permanently incapacitated while an Australian resident, the ten-year requirement does not apply.
A concession to the ten-year requirement can be applied where a person has multiple periods of residency, each of which is less than ten years. In such cases a formula is used to calculate the minimum period of residency acceptable.
Members of the forces of a Commonwealth or Allied country, must establish their domicile to be eligible to claim disability compensation payment and related medical benefits and extra medical benefits associated with the service pension.
See Also