Returning to Australia after living overseas: your pension and Medicare

What happens to my Age Pension when I move back to Australia?

It goes back toward the Australian rate, if you still qualify. Services Australia’s operational guidance says a proportional rate generally stops being proportional from the date you return, and Australian residents who return are issued a concession card. The supplements are paid again if you qualify. Our guide to moving overseas for good lists what stopped when you left.

Payment or card	When you come back to live
Proportional rate (under 35 years of residence)	Generally ends from the date you return
Pension Supplement	Restored if you qualify
Energy Supplement	Restored if you qualify
Pensioner Concession Card	Issued from the date you return, or once your payment restarts
A payment that stopped while you were away	Can generally be restored if you return within 13 weeks of it stopping

The income and assets tests still apply. If your income or assets changed while you were away (say you sold a house overseas), your new rate will reflect that.

Do I need to tell Centrelink I’m back?

Usually not, because Australia’s immigration department tells Services Australia when you leave and when you return. Services Australia says you do need to contact them if:

• your payment or concession card stopped while you were away and didn’t come back on its own
• you are paid under an international social security agreement
• they have asked you for evidence of your reason for travel.

Get in touch through myGov or on the Older Australians line, 132 300.

What if my pension stopped while I was away?

Then you may need to claim again. The 13-week window for restoring a payment is short, and after a long absence a new claim may be needed. Services Australia says there’s no waiting period to claim the Age Pension once you return to live, though you have to meet all the usual rules, including being in Australia on the day you claim. Our guide on claiming the Age Pension sets out those rules.

Leaving again within 2 years can stop a new pension. Services Australia says that if you come back to live, start getting the Age Pension after you return, and then travel overseas in the next 2 years, your payment may stop. It may continue only if you go to a country with a social security agreement. Keep the rule in mind for any trip in those 2 years, and tell Services Australia before you go.

How do I get Medicare back after living overseas?

It depends on how long you lived overseas, and whether you’re a citizen. Smartraveller says a citizen who moves overseas can still use Medicare for treatment in Australia for up to 5 years after moving. According to Services Australia’s staff guidance, the 5 years counts from when you first left and visits home don’t restart it, so someone away less than 5 years keeps their enrolment. Medicare never pays for treatment overseas (our guide on Medicare overseas covers that side).

Your situation	Medicare when you come back to live
Citizen, travelling while still living in Australia	Still enrolled. Usually nothing to do.
Citizen who moved overseas, back within 5 years	Still enrolled. Usually nothing to do.
Citizen, back after more than 5 years overseas	Re-enrol with your passport and 2 documents. No service centre visit needed.
Permanent resident	If you were overseas more than 12 months, your enrolment ended. Enrol again when you move back.

To re-enrol after more than 5 years away, you give a current passport for each person and 2 documents, dated in the last 6 months, showing you now live in Australia. Both can be from Australia, or you can use one from Australia and one from where you last lived.

Documents from Australia	Documents from where you lived
A lease plus a gas or electricity bill in the same name	Proof you sold your property
Proof you bought a property plus a gas or electricity bill	Proof you ended your lease
Proof you have a job	Proof your job ended
Proof of a current Australian bank account	Proof you closed your bank account
Proof of health, property or contents insurance	Proof you cancelled that insurance

The Medicare line is 132 011. If you might need aged care when you return, get Medicare sorted early, because the online aged care application asks for your Medicare card. Our guide to aged care overseas or at home has more on that.

How might the numbers change when I come home?

An example, not real people. Helen moved to Australia at 37, reached Age Pension age at 67 and moved to Bali at 69, which gave her 30 years of working life residence. She’s single, with modest savings and no home in Australia. At 75 she comes back to live near her daughter in Adelaide (our page on grandchildren in Australia covers that kind of move).

	In Bali (after 26 weeks away)	Back in Adelaide
Base rate	30/35ths of A$1,135.40, about A$973.20	A$1,135.40
Pension Supplement	Nil	A$88.20
Energy Supplement	Nil	A$14.10
Fortnightly total, at most	About A$973.20	A$1,237.70
Pensioner Concession Card	None	Issued again
Medicare	Never covers her in Bali; could be used on visits home until 5 years after she left	Re-enrols after 6 years away, with passport and 2 documents

If her income and assets allow the maximum rate, her pension could go up by about A$264.50 a fortnight. Services Australia would work out her actual rate.

What this means for you depends on

• How long you were away, and whether your payment stopped while you were overseas.
• Your years of Australian residence between age 16 and Age Pension age.
• Your income and assets when you return, including anything sold overseas.
• Whether you are a citizen or a permanent resident, for Medicare.
• Whether you plan more trips in the 2 years after you come back.
• Whether you need aged care soon after you return.
• Your tax residency, which is a question for a registered tax agent.

This is general information. For your own situation, talk to Services Australia, and to a registered tax agent about tax. You’re welcome to book a free planning session on Zoom too, and we’ll point you to the right person.