How to claim a payment under a social security agreement if you’re in Australia - International social security agreements

Steps to claim an Australian payment

Complete the following steps to claim Australian payments when you’re in Australia. Before you start, check if you can get a payment.

1. Get ready to claim

The easiest way to claim is online.

To claim online, you need a myGov account linked to Centrelink. If you don’t have a myGov account or a Centrelink online account you’ll need to set them up.

You may need to prove your identity with us before you start your claim. If you have a partner, they may also need to prove their identity.

If you can’t claim online, talk to us. Our staff will ask you some questions and help you with your claim. You can either:
- go to a service centre
- call us on the payment line your claiming for.
2. Get your documents ready to claim

You’ll need to get some supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim.
3. Make your claim
1. Sign in to myGov and go to Centrelink.
2. Select Make a claim, then Start a new claim.
3. Under the claim type or name, select Get started.
4. Answer all the questions. Each screen has information to help you complete the claim. This includes how to submit your supporting documents.
5. Submit your claim.
When you're ready:

Sign in to myGov
4. Track your claim

After you submit your claim online, you’ll get a receipt telling you all of the following:
- the ID number of your claim
- an estimated completion date
- a link to track its progress.
You can track the progress of your claim online. Sign in to myGov and go to Centrelink, or use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

We’ll let you know the result of your application. We’ll send a message to your myGov Inbox.

If you don't get electronic letters, we'll send you a letter in the mail.

If we need more details we’ll ask you for them.

If you think we’ve made a mistake you can ask us to review our decision.