International Services

International Services:

• can tell you whether an international social security agreement between Australia and another country may be able to help you get an Australian pension, and
• assists with non-Australian pension claims lodged in Australia. If we can't help you claim your pension from another country, we can tell you who can.

International Services has staff available who can speak a range of languages, but you may wish to use our Interpreter Services.

Customers travelling outside Australia

If you are planning on travelling outside Australia go to the Australians Overseas page for information about how your travel will affect your payments from us.

Claiming Australian pensions

International Services is responsible for all agreement pension customers living in Australia and customers living overseas. Australia has social security agreements with many countries. For more information, go to International Social Security Agreements.

People who have lived in Australia but now live in an agreement country can still claim an Australian pension. Equally, people who used to live or work in an agreement country, but have since moved to Australia, can claim Australian pension even if they haven't lived here long enough to qualify under Australian laws.

Under an international social security agreement, each country generally contributes an amount to a person's retirement income. For most countries this is measured by the period for which a person has contributed to that country's social security scheme. For Australia, it is based on a person's residence in Australia and their income and assets.

Claiming non-Australian pensions

International Services helps Australian residents with claims for pensions from all agreement countries. Australia has social security agreements with many countries. For more information, go to International Social Security Agreements. International Services can provide claim forms and tell you how the claim process works for each country and what documents will be required. For many pension claims, International Services will help you make sure that all the required information has been provided so that your claim can be processed as quickly as possible.

International Services can also give you advice and information about claiming a pension from a country that does not have an agreement with Australia.

People residing in Australia who wish to claim a foreign pension should contact International Services, on 131 673.

Non-Australian income exchange rates

To find out the most current exchange rate we use to work out how much your non-Australian income and assets are worth in Australian dollars, call our 24-hour information service on Freecall^TM1800 050 041.

Follow the prompts to find out exchange rates for the major currencies for the current and previous month or speak to a Customer Service Officer to find out exchange rates for other currencies.

Our Customer Service Officers can provide information in English, or in your preferred language for currencies that are not available through the automated service.

Note: Customer Service Officers are available to answer your call between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.

The exchange rates are updated at the beginning of each month.

If you have non-Australian income and assets you will be sent a letter in February each year showing the exchange rates used for the previous twelve months. This letter is for your information only.

You may ask for a reassessment

If there is more than a 5% difference between the exchange rate we used, and the rate actually used to convert your non-Australian income and assets into Australian dollars, you can ask for a reassessment. To do this, you need to show us evidence of the actual exchange rate used.