Mmm thats very interesting norba.. the woman i spoke to showed me on a form in writing ( centrelink document) ,,, it showed that i would have to live in Australia for 5 yrs before i was eligible for the OAP..after living O/s... that is if i am not at the age of elegibilty .. in my case 67 yrs old. So it is confusing for me to see what you said here ... the woman was adamant that was the case for me ... anyway .. maybe i should ask another person at C/L.. but i have plenty of time to wait ..... but hard to plan things .. when you hear different stories ... ok Thanks for that

G'day jeffreysearch (post 121) Absolutely incorrect was your supposed advisor. Simple research on the 'net' will reveal the 2-year rule currently applies. Not to mention recent experiences by close friends. Return to Oz (say 65) with the intent to stay in Oz, (accommodation for example, not the Hyatt, may be more credible) and you are eligible for the Aged pension - subject to assets. Do your 2 years and - up to you then.........

Hi old croc, we are living in spain at the moment ,and are being paid a reduced Australian age pension, we tried Thailand in the early 90,s but left huahin when the Scandinavian invasion started, we always liked Vietnam and we permanently rent a bungalow in vungtau as a fishing hut for me and the grandkids while the women folks are shopping in HCMC, don't shout about VN too much, it is great as it is not to many tourists, and no <deleted> Scandinavians, local authorities look after us pretty well,even centrelink is not so heavyhanded these days

I would rather have a large number of Scandinavian tourists than Australians, British, American or Russian.

Regarding portability of the australian aged pension. If you are in australia doing your 2 years waiting time before being eligible to have it paid to you overseas, you can leave australia during this time for periods up to 6 weeks, though you won't be paid the pension during this time and those 6 week periods are added to your original start time for portability. If you stay o/s more than 6 weeks during the wait time you have to start all over again when you come back to australia and apply for the pension, start the 2 year wait time.

So for example, if you take 2 x 6 weeks trips to thailand (unpaid) during your 2 year period for eligibility for portability, then you must add another 24 weeks living in australia to the original 2 year period.

This may make the 2 year waiting period a little less painful for some people.