Receiving A Disability Pension Australia

[actiondell4]

Sorry,Im not sure if this is the right forum for this question.

Is it possible if you are an Australian to claim a Disability Support Pension from Australian Government dept Centrelink and live in Thailand.?

Its website http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/inte...dsp_leaving.htm is not in understandable.

I have a friend who is currently 53yo and is starting to get problems with his knees,he is overweight and cannot really do any work and soon will apply for Disability pension once he uses all his work sick pay.

He wishes to move to Thailand once the Disability pension is approved however going by the website it says 13 weeks maximum whilst overseas.

I am just wondering if anyone knows anyone in Thailand who received the disability pension,do they have to go back every 13 weeks and front up to Centrelink?

[harrry]

He can no longer live long term outside Australia. THe maximum is 13 weeks unless he is diagnosed with a critical disease which will cause him to die within about 6 months.

[Hobc]

Every 3 months you have to check in at centrelink with doctors certificate,the best way is organize cheap flights to Perth with Tiger booked well in advance, unfortunately johnny really stuffed it for all of us!!

[actiondell4]

every 3 months?

ok

[lioness]

And even if he goes back every 13 weeks, if he says he is living here they will cut him off anyhow at some point.

[hagler]

His exit from Australia will be reported to Centrelink automatically by Immigration and he will have to show just cause as to why he should continue to receive the allowance.

[harrry]

His exit will be reported. He must apply before he leaves Australia and then there will be no problem providing he would still be entitled to the benifit.

[krading]

I had been on the DSP (Disability Support Pension) for about a year and told them I was going to drag my poor shattered body to Thailand for 3 months to recover some sanity after having been laid out for the previous 18 months.

No problem they said, give us 2 weeks notice before leaving and notify us within a few days of returning.

I stayed 3 months in LOS then returned to OZ.

Welcome back. "Here's your new pension card, how was your trip?"

All very cordial indeed.

Three months down the track I notified them 2 weeks before, as per the rules, that I was going for another 3 months but this time noticed a definite change in demeaner from the Centrelink official.

Soon got an email stating that if I wanted to leave OZ again I would have to give them 6 weeks notice.

I'm off back to OZ in 5 weeks intending to stay 3 months before trying it on again.

I have a bad feeling that Centrelink is going to tell me something I don't want to hear.

I wish I was 65.

or rich.

[SeanMoran]

I had been on the DSP (Disability Support Pension) for about a year and told them I was going to drag my poor shattered body to Thailand for 3 months to recover some sanity after having been laid out for the previous 18 months.

No problem they said, give us 2 weeks notice before leaving and notify us within a few days of returning.

I stayed 3 months in LOS then returned to OZ.

Welcome back. "Here's your new pension card, how was your trip?"

All very cordial indeed.

Three months down the track I notified them 2 weeks before, as per the rules, that I was going for another 3 months but this time noticed a definite change in demeaner from the Centrelink official.

Soon got an email stating that if I wanted to leave OZ again I would have to give them 6 weeks notice.

I'm off back to OZ in 5 weeks intending to stay 3 months before trying it on again.

I have a bad feeling that Centrelink is going to tell me something I don't want to hear.

I wish I was 65.

or rich.

TOO RIGHT!

Y'know the strangest part was that once I got classfied as a 'no-chance

DSP recipient, on the Monday, I bought my ticket out from that 'fatal shore' on the Friday, and called them at Centrelink to notify them of my departure. This was on November 19 with departure for December 1st.

She told to call back later because her computer couldn't see that far in advance.

So, the rule is that if you're on the DSP, call them from the airport in business hours

Thirteen weeks. Thailand is a start, but it's not the end result it used to be.

Also, there's a reverse charges 001 number that you can call if you really need to, to get another extension on the payments if you really have an emergency.

Centrelink: 001-61-3622 234 55

I won't cost you an international call. I've had some bad luck since I got back here and so I called after 8 weeks to ask for another 8 weeks to start over. I was all sorted in 15 minutes althoughe supplement goes. 18,000 becomes 17,000. Oh where is the love?

[actiondell4]

Yes thanks Stevo and everyone else.

I suppose its possible Centrelink gets mesages from immigration that you have gone overseas and may cut your disability pension if you didnt tell them.

I often wonder however if you are legit and really have a bad back /bad knees/mentally ill,surely u would be allowed exemption on coming back every 13 weeks,but it doesnt seem so.!

i wou rather live in Thailand on 30,000 baht disability pension than live down in the Redfern Government housing blocks on a disability pension.

It seems if you are blind or ,I think,Intellectually disabled there may be a exemption in coming back every 13 weeks?

Other than that it seems you should tell them at the start of your 13 weeks then it probaly would take 13 weeks for them to folow up.

What if you dont tell them?,surely there are aussies living in thailand on disability pensions who live here?

[SeanMoran]

Yes thanks Stevo and everyone else.

I suppose its possible Centrelink gets mesages from immigration that you have gone overseas and may cut your disability pension if you didnt tell them.

I often wonder however if you are legit and really have a bad back /bad knees/mentally ill,surely u would be allowed exemption on coming back every 13 weeks,but it doesnt seem so.!

i wou rather live in Thailand on 30,000 baht disability pension than live down in the Redfern Government housing blocks on a disability pension.

It seems if you are blind or ,I think,Intellectually disabled there may be a exemption in coming back every 13 weeks?

Other than that it seems you should tell them at the start of your 13 weeks then it probaly would take 13 weeks for them to folow up.

What if you dont tell them?,surely there are aussies living in thailand on disability pensions who live here?

You only have to return for one day to Australian soil, so I was told, however 13 weeks requires a visa from a Thai consulate, so Perth is the closest place to kill two birds with one return flight every thirteen weeks. Airfare costs seem to run into around 18,000 to 20,000 and then think if the added expenses of a few nights in a greedy country, and the next Thai visa, so it's possible, but you need to take around 20% of your pension out each fortnight to save for that expensive week back in the Lucky Country.

[actiondell4]

Yes Thanks Seanmoran,I actually forgot about the visa,I suppose you could get a multiple entry visa or if over age 50 a retirement visa.

Yes I didnt know if you would have to attend your local centrelink office but i think anyone can do,im not sure if the one of the above posts mentions a Doctors certificate every 3 months to stay on the disability pension? I dont think this is correct.

It sounds easy,receiving a Australian disability pension whilst living overseas,but i bet you its not that easy otherwise everyone would be going back to the middleast and europe etc.

[SeanMoran]

Yes Thanks Seanmoran,I actually forgot about the visa,I suppose you could get a multiple entry visa or if over age 50 a retirement visa.

Yes I didnt know if you would have to attend your local centrelink office but i think anyone can do,im not sure if the one of the above posts mentions a Doctors certificate every 3 months to stay on the disability pension? I dont think this is correct.

It sounds easy,receiving a Australian disability pension whilst living overseas,but i bet you its not that easy otherwise everyone would be going back to the middleast and europe etc.

Since it took me three years of great pain an suffering on the dole to overcome the bureaucratic mistakes and failures of Centrelink, I'll happily bet my life and leave it if the final medical certificate that ended up with an official without ADHD doesn't run for the promised two years. This is why I live in a high-rise apartment. If they go back on their promise, I still have an exit door.

It's beyond me to think of any more reliable solutions to the incompetencies of Centrelink, but the rule is, 13 weeks out and one day back in, and you should be able to do it all again.

Personally, I'd suggest Cebu, Philippines, as a better alternative to find the sort of place that Thailand was five years ago.

[thaiphoon]

One off-topic post removed.

[Lite Beer]

And another one.

[tropo]

Yes Thanks Seanmoran,I actually forgot about the visa,I suppose you could get a multiple entry visa or if over age 50 a retirement visa.

You'll need a monthly income of 65,000 baht or 800,000 baht on a Thai bank account to get your retirement visa.

The easiest visa for 3 months at a time would be a single entry tourist visa. That'll give you 90 days with one extension. 13 weeks = 91 days

After you've done this a few times you'll probably end up thinking Australia isn't such a bad place to live afterall.

[actiondell4]

Does anyone know if any of the Disability Pension rules have changed ?

Do DSP recipents still have to leave every 13 weeks ?

And would Centrelink start asking questions if I arrived back every 13 weeks?

[krading]

I ran the 'back for one day' scenario past them and was told that if I spend more time out of Oz than in they would have to "re-assess my permanent residency status".

I don't know if they can do that or if they were just bluffing.

Very hard to get a straight answer out of them.

[prodriver]

I've an Australian friend who lives here in Thailand on yearly extensions being married to a Thai lady. I'm sure he gets some sort of disability allowance (or pension) from the Australian authorities due to having tinnitus which he apparently got from being a sub-mariner in the Australian Navy. He's in his late 50's and doesn't return to OZ every so many weeks.

Perhaps it's an allowance paid by the military....so maybe a whole different ball-game. I'll ask him when I see him next weekend.