So my age pension is not affected how do I fill in departure and arrival cards - I am moving permantly to Thailand but still want age pension paid into Aussie bank account that I can access via ATM in Thailand - I plan on three trips per year back to Aussie and will have a home in Aussie

Sorry but I find this post confusing.

Are you on the OAP now? If not, when will you qualify?

The way you fill in your arrival and departure cards will have no bearing on your

pension eligibilty anyway.

Centrelink will have to asses you as a resident before granting the OAP.

There are pages of information pinned in the visas and migration to other countries forum.

Mods, can this be moved to the appropriate forum?

Regards

Will

Moved.

You meant the Thai Arrival card? I don't believe anything you fill in there will be reported back to Australia, it's for Thai statistical purposes.

If you have complied with the pension residency rules and have portability you are free to come and go with no penalties.

If you are talking about the Australian Departure and arrival card you should put as purpose of trip tourism and on arrival in Australia mark Australian resident returning.

Hi, I came here in November for a 6 month stay. I went and told Centrelink what I was doing and they said it was OK. They said that I had to arrive back in Sydney by 12 April or they would cancel my pension. They told me that if I wanted to stay longer that I needed to contact the International Department of the Pension division to let them know that I had moved overseas on a permanent basis. Hope this helps you out with your problem.

Hi, I came here in November for a 6 month stay. I went and told Centrelink what I was doing and they said it was OK. They said that I had to arrive back in Sydney by 12 April or they would cancel my pension. They told me that if I wanted to stay longer that I needed to contact the International Department of the Pension division to let them know that I had moved overseas on a permanent basis. Hope this helps you out with your problem.

As long as your OAP is portable,it is a simple matter to move permanently overseas by arrangements with the International Services section of Centrelink.

You become an overseas recipient and your pension is then paid monthly ,(instead of fortnightly )

Your pension remains the same except that the perks such as rent assistance ,phone ,travel ,medicare etc are cancelled and in their place a flat supplement of $543.40 per annum is added to your pension.

The pension can be paid into (in this instance ) a Thai bank a/c at no cost to the pension recipient.

Do not try spending the bulk of your time in Thailand and still claiming the perks as if you are only "holidaying" you will come unstuck and it can cost you big time.

I have seen this happen several times ., The people concerned had their pension stopped and had return to Oz to have it restarted but not back dated,extra payments were deducted and penalties applied...

Don, Im confused about this bit you wrote " and in their place a flat supplement of $543.40 per annum is added to your pension."

Do you have a link for this information?