Gill73

I know you pay into a superannuation fund as an employee but if you are an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident, do you get a state pension at retirement age?

If there is a state pension, do you have to have paid taxes for a certain number of years in Australia to qualify?

Dreamy

It's means tested, Gill - all the info about it can be found here:


Age Pension

jad n rich

I see that the residence requirements are easier to find now.

Must be living in OZ to claim, ( 2 years prior you cant just pop back ) something those not planning to stay in oz for their twilight years need to know , other forums have those caught out without a pension because they do not know this!!

Dreamy

I couldn't see where it said you had to be here for 2 years prior (unless you were here as a New Zealand citizen or you were claiming as a widow without the 10 year residency requirement) or that you had to be living here at all (depending, I guess, on their definition of living) - just that you had to be in Australia on the day that you claimed.

Did they say that somewhere other than the residence requirements? TBH, I've never looked that hard at it, I've tended to assume I won't get anything (well, hoped I won't get anything )

jad n rich

I checked into this after reading aussies in asia saying they could not get aussie pension because they lived overseas.

From centerlink they confirmed the 2 prior residence thing, you cannot just come back and claim.

Centerlink told me you had to reside in OZ for 2 years prior to the claim, and that is what was stated by people who had tried to claim and failed.

However this link also mentions staying 2 years after the claim

http://guidesacts.fahcsia.gov.au/gui...ide-7.1.4.html

The original 2 years prior fineprint was posted on BE some time ago after being told I was wrong wrong wrong, by a very angry aussie who didnt believe it till he rang centerlink LOL.

Has that changed ??? maybe now its 2 years after and not 2 years prior?

No doubt a call to centerlink would cause them the usual confusion, they never know. But I remember being put through to some international pensions person finally...... and he confirmed it.

Dreamy

You'd think they'd put that information in with the residency requirements - no doubt it's the very typical case of two departments giving conflicting information.

You've got to love bureaucracy!

Gill73

so is it 10 years that you have to reside in Australia for prior to claiming a pension or is it 2 years?!?! I'm just looking to clarify as my parents, who are 63 and 62, would like to follow us to Australia if they can get a visa sorted

Kiwipaul

The state pension is intended for Ozzies, and the chance of obtaining a visa when you are 63 and 62 is virtually zero.
EXCEPT for a retirement visa which is for self funded retirees only and entitles the visa holders to zero benefits from Oz gov.

See

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/retirement/410/

northernbird

I would worry more about getting them a visa than about them getting a pension. It isn't the easiest, or cheapest thing to do depending on which visa.

Pollyana

You need to live in Aus for ten years in order to be eligible, and you have to be here for the two years before your reach retirement age in order to claim it. And its means tested too.

ozzieeagle

The asset limits are found at the following URL....

http://www.humanservices.gov.au/cust...nablers/assets

For a single home owner your allowed to have 192,500 dollars worth of assets, A couple 273,000 before your pension gets affected at all.

If you dont own a home the figure is 332,000 for a single or 412,500 dollars for a couple in assets.


The cut off point for losing everything including the health benefit card (Pension card), which is a very important part of the whole situation and one that people should try and work around is.... 731,500 for a single home owner or 871,000 for a single not owning their own home. For couples the figure is 1,086,000 for home owners or 1,225,500 for non home owners before you lose the Pension Card.

Incomes are 152 dollars for single per fortnight before you lose any pension, or 268 dollars per fortnight for a couple. Then you lose 50 cents in every dollar from the pension above that amount.... The cut of points for losing the pension income is 1768.80 per fornight for a single and 2705.60 for a couple.

I've got my eye on this very closely at present as am working out how to get around these cut off points.

I do know it's definitely able to be worked around........ Currently.

nickyjohnt

Something i found out when i needed assistance due to illness, Centrelink asked we why i left the Country for 12 days 7 months previously, they knew what date i left and what date i returned. The Tax office, Immigration and Centrelink seem to have their act together here... Which in my eyes is not a bad thing but a bit too much like a Big Brother thing

John

quoll

I think people don't understand that it isn't a pension because you've made contributions into it but a means tested welfare payment - it's not a right, it's a safety net! At 62/63 I'd say their chances of getting it are negligible. They'll be in their mid 70s before they are eligible o even think about it and with a UK pension coming in they might struggle to meet the means test.

ozzieeagle

It's been suggested there will be a means test in the UK by the time i reach the UK pensionable age at age 66 for me being born in 1955.

So I'm not expecting anything out of the UK either.

OzTennis

It is also expected that the pensionable age will increase to over 70 with longer life expectancy, population time bomb, government deficit and all that. And to think at one time they were paying people generously to retire early! Final salary occupational pensions are also going the way of the dinosaur.

At one time in the UK women got the pension at 60 and men at 65. A single lady took the UK government to the European Court claiming this was discriminatory (she wanted to work beyond 60) and they ruled that it was discriminatory. Did the UK bring the male pensionable age down to 60? No they raised female to 65 progressively. The first cut off point was 1950 and it was raised each year to 1954 and now they've increased men's and ladies by 1 - the 1955 mentioned.