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Post by Banjo on Sept 15, 2011 20:12:53 GMT 7
Hi Rod, good to see you back. I too asked about checking into the embassy with similar results. Personally I think it is a good idea for other reasons, Age pensioners should have to do it also, just so our government knows they are alive and well. Still, this is too simple for Centrelink and they hate paying people overseas anyway. Welfare Rights wouldn't want any part of this, it involves high level politics and they have a enough on their plate with low level stuff ups.
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Post by rodcourt49 on Sept 15, 2011 21:24:30 GMT 7
..fair enough..sometimes the simplest interpretations of definitions get overlooked in the Big picture..maybe someday it will happen. (Quite often law enforcers and other legal officers of government agencies use the services of their relevant state's Solicitor General's Office/Department to give a legal opinion on such matters). Do any of the members have any avenue of contact with these people to get their legal opinion, which I understand is a free service available to anyone. I think it is worth pursuing if presented correctly on behalf of our group!
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Post by Banjo on Sept 15, 2011 22:57:19 GMT 7
Lets work on a suitable approach... See if we can work something out between us.
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Post by Banker on Sept 16, 2011 6:08:13 GMT 7
One problem with this is the embassy's wont want to get involved. They dont like work, that is my experience with them.
I have a friend that was a Warden for the Oz Embassy here, some of the stories he has told me would make your hair curl, he was so angry about one situation he resigned.
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Post by skills32 on May 1, 2012 17:50:32 GMT 7
I have posted this elsewhere but the forum s confuse me and it might others; it should clear up a few things for some of you.
In 1999 I moved to Thailand and in 2007 I returned (I had been back 2 or 3 times in between for a short visit) to claim the OAP. I told them I intended to stay in OZ so it was granted. I returned O/S about 3 months later. After 13 weeks my OAP was cut off. I rang them and asked why and was told that they considered me a former resident. I lodged an appeal with the Original Decision Maker which was turned down. Six months later I lodged an appeal with the SSAT which was also turned down. I immediately lodged an appeal with the AAT and a couple of days before the hearing I received a call from someone who mentioned the AAT hearing. Thinking I was talking to an officer from the AAT I told him that the whole matter was a waste of time. He asked me why and I said
The former resident rule were brought in to stop the immigrants of the early fifties who came out here and worked 10years, made a lot of money and then returned to Greece and Italy to spend it. They then returned when they were 65 applied and got the OAP and took the pension back home with them. I pointed out that I had lived in Oz for 59 years and worked and paid taxes for 45 of them and that there was no way in the world that any one could claim that I was a former resident.I also told him that if they wanted to call me a something resident then the term roaming resident would be sufficient.
Well as it turned out I happened to be speaking to the C/L lawyer and he just said that he agreed with me and he would not see why I shouldn't be getting pension with full portability. The paper work came through in 10days and I was off again.
The only blue I made was to allow 6 months to pass without appealing to the SSAT. Had I done this within the appeal time limits I would have received back pay but that did not worry me unduly.
C/L officers have to work within the scope of a book of procedures written by C/L and this does not necessarily have to stand up in a court of law and I will bet that not a lot of officers have even read the act but their legal men have to conform to the law and this is why it is better to speak to their lawyers rather than an officer. And that is hard to do.
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mobilemama
Full Member
i was reading on the centrelink or oap website and saw it said must wait 104 weeks for portability,
Posts: 12
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Post by mobilemama on Feb 15, 2013 16:35:53 GMT 7
visited c/l about getting my age pension as i was recently separated but living overseas (husband Australian) but was told evryway i turned that i would get it but would have to remain in Australia for the full 2 years before i could take it back o/s, i gave visited aust for family reasons at least twice per year sometimes more often, but was told in no uncertain terms that i would have to spend 2 full years living in ausafter i get the pension before i would get portability, it was suggested to me that i could claim a different pension for a year before claiming the oap and maybe then get away with taking my oap overseas, however they have now closed that loophole as well. so i have no choice but to return to aus when i am 65 to claim my pension, and must remain living there for two years to keep it. this sucks, i am living on the bones of my arse now as x has all the money. if i return to Australia now i will have to spend 4 years there on oap before i get portability. there was a suggestion that if i left thro new zealand i would get away with it..... no apparently you have to be a citizen of new zealand to open a bank account, and they want proof you are in new zealand, so those of you planning on trying that forget it. and i believe there were a few hoping for that... also as there is no married couple pension, a man and wife both have to be 65, that is just disgusting. i am now planning on living on the bones of my bum for 2 years then go get my pension and live in aust reaping all their extra benefits while i can, it would have been much cheaper for them to give it to me now. no medicare, seniors card, subsidies etc etc. well done aus, i bet in 2 years you will change the goal posts again. and i will then be too broke to do anything but live on your generosity,ha ha ..... is that my reward for working and living in aus , paying tax, raising a family without benefits, have never received a dole or handout at anytime in my life, my kids still live and work there and are raising families also.
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Post by peter on Feb 16, 2013 8:45:20 GMT 7
Hello mm. Concerning your post that you would have to spend 4 years in Aus before getting a portable pension, that is not correct. The requirement is two years residency. Perhaps you were thinking that since you are under pension age presently, that you would have to wait a period to get the OAP and then spend two years on the OAP which would add up to four years. Not so, its two years. So if you returned before turning 65, you could go onto New Start or the Widows Allowance since you are separated, and recommencing reestablishing your permanent residency that way. On New Start or the Widow's Allowance its a bit of a threadbare existence, but its easy once the accommodation issue is resolved. I moved to Cairns to resolve that as I could only afford a room in a capital city. Here, there are studios available around $140. Once accommodation is fixed all the other living expenses become doable. So better check again where you got that reasoning that you have to spend four years in Australia to get a portable OAP.
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Post by howdo on Feb 16, 2013 8:45:58 GMT 7
You really need to appeal this and I would be asking the question, 'am I as an Australian resident/citizen in detention in Australia to receive what is rightfully mine."
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Post by peter on Feb 25, 2013 16:42:08 GMT 7
It seems that mm above, has been told in a letter that one cannot leave Australia within two years of becoming eligible for the OAP.
I can see how that confusion could come up because on the Welfare Rights fact sheet it has the statement;
"even if you convince Centrelink that you are returning as a permanent resident, and are granted Age Pension, you will have it cancelled if you leave within two years".
The wording is misleading, cause whilst its true as far as it goes, it does not go far enough.
On the ...........Centrelink site ...............under the heading "Payments Paid Whilst Outside Australia" it has the following comment;
"If you returned to live in Australia, and you were granted or transferred to Age Pension within the last two years, you will not be able to receive your Age Pension outside the country. After you return, in order for you to be paid outside the country, you must have been living in Australia for two years since your last arrival for residence."
So the important wording is "granted or transferred to Age Pension" and presumably its referring to transferring from some other Centrelink payment such as New Start, Widow's Allowance or whatever.
So what I said in my above post I think its correct, but it needs to be confirmed before action is taken based upon it.
And additional knowledge or contrary views are invited.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 25, 2013 18:10:56 GMT 7
Don't the OAP payments just cease when you leave Australia then automatically get reinstated when you return? The time away is then added to the 2 years until the full 2 years are served out?
For example, someone who has been overseas returns to Australia 1st Jan 2013, is granted OAP being 65 on that date but has to remain in the country until 1st Jan 2015.
He slips away for a little R&R, say a month, in the land of smiles, his payments stop but are reinstated on return but he then has to wait until 1st Feb 2015 to be granted full portability?
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Post by Banker on Feb 25, 2013 18:38:24 GMT 7
That seems spot on Banjo. At least that is the way C/L explained it to me.
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Post by aussiebernie on Feb 25, 2013 20:40:24 GMT 7
Don't the OAP payments just cease when you leave Australia then automatically get reinstated when you return? The time away is then added to the 2 years until the full 2 years are served out? For example, someone who has been overseas returns to Australia 1st Jan 2013, is granted OAP being 65 on that date but has to remain in the country until 1st Jan 2015. He slips away for a little R&R, say a month, in the land of smiles, his payments stop but are reinstated on return but he then has to wait until 1st Feb 2015 to be granted full portability? So if you come back just before you turn 63, spend 2 years here, apply for the OAP at 65. Then you could go overseas for as long as you want without losing the pension?
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Post by Banjo on Feb 25, 2013 21:17:21 GMT 7
That's it... You lose a few things after 6 months but still get the basic pension.
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Post by eight on Feb 26, 2013 7:46:28 GMT 7
Everyone is forgetting the main bit of where you are living. As in my case I spent ?? years overseas returning once a year for a couple of weeks and sometimes didn't return for near two years. I was always a OZ resident cause I maintained my driving licence, libary card, on the electroll roll, bank acount, PO box and had a house,[ my main source of income ] which I had rented out so I always lodged a tax return. I returned to occupy my house when the tennents agreement ended, 8 months before I turned 65, and went on Newstart for those 8 months, then was automaticly transfered to the OAP, leaving to travel o/s just a few days after. and now returning every 26 weeks to OZ In the few years before anyone approches the OAP age they should make shure they maintain their residency requirements as I mensioned.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 26, 2013 8:54:54 GMT 7
Thanks for some good tips eight, I really believe that the Centrelink residency requirements for the OAP is bullshit. Obviously you have met their criteria... probably with the tax return and the property you own.
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