Australian Age Pension in Argentina: the 26-week rule

You can keep receiving an Australian Age Pension while living in Argentina if you remain eligible, but you cannot make a first claim from Argentina because it has no social-security agreement with Australia. After 26 weeks overseas, fewer than 35 years of Australian working-life residence generally reduce the residence-based rate; 10 years gives a 10/35 proportion.

Can you receive the Age Pension in Argentina?

Services Australia says an Age Pension already in payment may continue indefinitely overseas while the recipient remains qualified. It does not promise that the amount paid in Australia will follow you unchanged. Tell Services Australia that you are leaving to live overseas rather than describing a permanent move as a holiday; the departure rules for supplements differ from those for a visit.

Argentina is absent from Services Australia's list of social-security agreement countries in the Americas. That list names Canada, Chile and the United States. Living in a non-agreement country means you cannot claim a first Australian Age Pension from there. If you have not yet claimed, resolve where and when you will claim before relocating; retiring in Argentina from Australia is a separate migration and finances question.

What changes after 26 weeks overseas?

The 26-week point is generally a rate change, not an automatic cancellation date. Services Australia uses your Australian residence from age 16 to Age Pension age to work out the long-term overseas rate. Generally, 35 years or more of qualifying Australian residence produces the full residence-based pension rate; fewer years produce a proportional rate. Some recipients are covered by exceptions or older rules, so ask Services Australia for your own portability and residence assessment before departure.

The residence calculation is not a count of years holding an Australian passport, nor is it a count of years spent in Argentina. It looks back to the specified years of residence in Australia. Ask Services Australia for your recorded Australian working-life residence and the resulting rate after 26 weeks abroad.

Worked example: 10 Australian years out of 35

Someone with 10 years of qualifying Australian residence between age 16 and Age Pension age generally receives 10/35 of the residence-based rate after 26 weeks abroad. This proportion is not a quoted fortnightly payment: Services Australia also assesses eligibility, supplements and individual exceptions. A person with 35 years generally avoids the residence-based reduction.

Which additions to the pension stop when you leave?

Services Australia's treatment differs between a visit and moving to live overseas. The timetable matters because a reduced payment can start well before the 26-week residence calculation.

There is also a distinct two-year return-and-departure rule: a person who returned to Australia to live, claimed Age Pension, and leaves again within two years may have payment stopped. Do not treat the 26-week proportional rule as permission to return briefly, claim and immediately depart. The exception for an agreement country is not available for Argentina.

Can you make a new claim from Argentina?

No first claim can be made while you live in Argentina under the non-agreement-country rule. That is different from the position of someone already receiving the payment before the move. An Australia–Argentina income-tax treaty exists, but it governs taxation, not Centrelink claim eligibility or the 26-week portability calculation.

Article 18 of the treaty allocates income-tax treatment of pensions and annuities paid to a resident of either country to the country of residence, including government pensions. That income-tax rule does not grant a pension, establish your tax residence, or increase its portable amount. For the separate Australian departure tests see Australian tax residency when moving overseas; for Argentine residence and foreign income see Argentine tax rules for foreign residents.

What should you do before the move?

1. Call Services Australia before leaving. State whether you already receive Age Pension or still need to claim, and that your destination is Argentina for residence rather than a visit. Ask how your planned departure affects entitlement and the date each payment component changes.
2. Ask for the recorded Australian working-life residence. Obtain the residence period Services Australia will apply after 26 weeks. The 10/35 example above will be wrong for someone with a different period or an exception.
3. Ask whether the two-year return-and-departure rule applies. It is especially relevant if your plan involves returning to Australia to claim before emigrating again.
4. Plan for healthcare separately. Medicare does not cover you overseas, and Argentina is not on Australia's reciprocal healthcare agreement list. Read the Medicare rules when leaving Australia before relying on an Australian card for care in Argentina.

A pension that continues abroad remains subject to eligibility and your departure circumstances.