Family crisis, humanitarian reasons or medical treatment
You may get JobSeeker Payment if you’re travelling outside Australia for an approved reason. If granted, you’ll get your payment for the time required to deal with the reason. This will generally be 2-3 weeks. The maximum period is 6 weeks.
The approved reasons are:
- to attend an acute family crisis - for example, to visit a family member who’s critically ill
- for specific humanitarian reasons - for example, to adopt a child or attend custody proceedings
- to get eligible medical treatment that isn’t available in Australia.
Evidence we need
You must provide detailed evidence that supports the reason for travel. The evidence you need to provide depends on the circumstances.
Evidence may include any of the following:
- a death certificate for the family member
- a medical certificate from an overseas hospital
- a statement from police
- a court order
- a letter from your treating doctor
- other documents relating to the reason for travel.
If you don’t give us the evidence before you leave Australia, your payment may stop when you depart. If we’ve stopped your payment, we’ll reassess it once we get your evidence.
Example
Riley is paid JobSeeker Payment. They hear from a relative that their mother has been in an accident in Greece and is in hospital in a critical condition. Riley calls Centrelink to advise they’re travelling to Greece to see their mother and is told their circumstances may meet the criteria of an acute family crisis. If Riley provides suitable evidence, their JobSeeker Payment can be paid for a short time overseas.
Riley will need to give evidence confirming the situation before the assessment can be finalised and they can be paid. Riley says they will get suitable evidence while in Greece and upload it when they return to Australia. This means the assessment will happen after Riley returns to Australia, so Riley’s JobSeeker Payment stops when they depart.
While in Greece, Riley gets a certificate from the hospital stating their mother’s name, date of birth and date of admission and detailing the critical condition she’s in. After 2 weeks, Riley’s mother’s situation improves and Riley returns to Australia. Riley uploads their evidence, which confirms the situation is an acute family crisis. They’re paid JobSeeker Payment for the 2 weeks they were in Greece.
Alternative situations
If Riley’s mother had died while they were there, they could contact Centrelink and request further payment under the acute family crisis provision. They would need to provide a death certificate, as well as the initial medical certificate.
If Riley decided to stay longer in Greece to visit family and travel, they wouldn’t be paid for that time as it wasn’t due to the acute family crisis. Riley’s JobSeeker Payment would suspend at the end of the approved period. If they returned to Australia within 13 weeks of suspension, their payment could be restored. If they returned after 13 weeks, they would need to lodge a new claim.
Defence training
If you’re attending an Australian Defence Force Reserves training camp, you’ll get your payment for the duration of the training.
Evidence we need
You need to give us a written statement from the camp commander or the person in charge. It must show all of the following:
- camp details
- duration of the camp including the start and end dates of the camp
- camp location.
You can upload your evidence using your Centrelink online account through myGov.