To get FTB when you’re overseas, you must be travelling for an approved reason and hold one of these visas:
- Partner Provisional visa subclass 309 or visa subclass 820
- Safe Haven Enterprise visa subclass 790
- Temporary Protection visa subclass 785 issued on or after 16 December 2014.
If granted travel for an approved reason, 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.
You can upload your evidence using your Centrelink online account through myGov.
Example
Ella is paid Family Tax Benefit. They tell Centrelink they’re travelling to Finland with their child Scotty as their brother has been in a serious car accident and is in hospital in a critical condition. Centrelink tell Ella their circumstances may meet the criteria of an acute family crisis, which would mean their Family Tax Benefit can be paid for a short time overseas.
Ella will need to give evidence confirming the situation before the assessment can be finalised and they can be paid. Ella says they will get suitable evidence while in Finland and upload it when they return to Australia. This means the assessment will happen after Ella returns to Australia, so Ella’s Family Tax Benefit stops when they depart Australia.
While in Finland, Ella gets a certificate from the hospital that states their brother’s name, date of birth and date of admission and details the critical condition he’s in. After 2 weeks, Ella’s brother’s situation improves and Ella returns to Australia. Ella uploads their evidence, which confirms the situation is an acute family crisis. They’re paid Family Tax Benefit for the 2 weeks they were in Finland.
Alternative situations
If Ella’s brother 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 Ella decided to stay longer in Finland to visit family and travel, they wouldn’t be paid for that time as it wasn’t due to the acute family crisis. Ella’s Family Tax Benefit would stop at the end of the approved period. If they returned to Australia within 13 weeks of it stopping, their payment could be restored. If they returned after 13 weeks, they would need to lodge a new claim.