Newly arrived resident's waiting period
If you've recently arrived as a resident in Australia, you may have to wait to get payments or concession cards.
Temporary removal of the waiting period
Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we've removed the newly arrived resident’s waiting period until 31 March 2021 for:
- Austudy
- Farm Household Allowance
- JobSeeker Payment
- Parenting Payment
- Special Benefit
- Youth Allowance.
Your payment will stop on 1 April 2021 if you either:
- haven’t served the newly arrived resident’s waiting period
- don’t have an exemption.
The time you’ve spent in Australia as a resident or eligible visa holder will count towards serving the waiting period. This includes the time you’re getting a payment during the removal of the waiting period.
Waiting period
The waiting period consists of time spent in Australia as an Australian resident. This means, if you travel overseas, the time you’re away from Australia won’t count towards the waiting period.
New residents may have to wait up to 4 years before they can:
- get most of our payments
- use most of our services.
A maximum 2 year waiting period applies if you’re the holder of either:
- an Orphan Relative visa (subclass 117 or 837)
- a Remaining Relative visa (subclass 115 and 835).
Holders of permanent residence visa or specified visa subclass granted after 1 January 2019
If your permanent residence visa or specified visa subclass is granted on or after 1 January 2019, the following waiting periods apply.
4 year waiting period
There’s a 4 year waiting period for the following payments and concessions:
- Austudy
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
- Farm Household Allowance
- JobSeeker Payment
- Low Income Health Care Card
- Mobility Allowance
- Parenting Payment single and partnered
- Pensioner Education Supplement
- Special Benefit
- Youth Allowance.
2 year waiting period
There’s a 2 year waiting period for the following payments:
You may be an Australian citizen and started living in Australia for the first time. In this there’s a 2 year waiting period for Parenting Payment single and partnered.
1 year waiting period
There’s a 1 year waiting period for:
There’s no waiting period for Family Tax Benefit Part B.
Holders of visas granted before 1 January 2019 and Orphan Relative / Remaining Relative visas
If your permanent residence visa or specified visa subclass was granted before 1 January 2019, there’s a 2 year waiting period. It applies to the following payments and concessions:
- Austudy
- Carer Payment
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
- Farm Household Allowance
- JobSeeker Payment
- Low Income Health Care Card
- Mobility Allowance
- Parenting Payment single and partnered
- Pensioner Education Supplement
- Special Benefit
- Youth Allowance.
You won’t have to wait the Newly Arrived Resident waiting period for any of these:
New Zealand visa waiting periods
You may need to be granted a permanent residence visa before we can look at time you've spent in Australia. This will happen if you arrive on a New Zealand passport with a Special Category visa.
You don’t need a permanent residence visa to claim any of these:
- Child Care Subsidy
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
- Family Tax Benefit
- Foster Child Health Care Card
- Low Income Health Care Card.
Read more about New Zealand citizens claiming payments in Australia.
Access to some of our services and payments
If you have a waiting period, you can still use some of our services.
You can use the:
- jobactive website to search for jobs in your local area
- JobSearch facilities in our service centres.
The Community Development Program may help you if you live in a remote area. It’s run by the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
You may have lived in a country that has a social security agreement with Australia. In this case you may be eligible for 1 of these payments:
Exemptions to the waiting period
There may be exemptions to the waiting period.
Page last updated: 18 February 2021
This information was printed 25 February 2021 from https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/topics/newly-arrived-residents-waiting-period/30726. 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.