Residence rules
You need to meet residence rules to claim Special Benefit.
On the day you claim, you must be in Australia. You must also be living in Australia and have 1 of the following:
- Australian citizenship
- a permanent visa
- a protected Special Category visa
- a certain temporary visa type, that includes Partner Provisional or Temporary Protection type visas.
We’ve temporarily removed the newly arrived resident’s waiting period for Special Benefit due to coronavirus (COVID-19). If the waiting period meant you were not eligible for a payment you should check again. With the newly arrived resident’s waiting period removed you may now be eligible. Check our payment guide to find the right payment for you.
To get Special Benefit you can’t be eligible for any other income support payment.
You must continue to meet the residence rules for as long as you get Special Benefit.
Page last updated: 10 November 2020
This information was printed 28 November 2020 from https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/special-benefit/who-can-get-it/residence-rules. It may not include all of the relevant information on this topic. Please consider any relevant site notices at https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/site-notices when using this material.