The Age Pension in South East Asia

Yes, the Age Pension can be paid for as long as you live in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia or the Philippines. It gets smaller, though. The supplements stop within 12 weeks, and after 26 weeks the pension itself is cut unless you lived in Australia for 35 years between 16 and pension age.

The other catch is timing: you have to claim while you’re still living in Australia. This guide is for Australians, because the Age Pension runs on Australian rules. Britons, see your UK State Pension abroad.

What stops, and when

The Age Pension has what the government calls unlimited portability. If you still qualify, it can be paid while you’re overseas for any length of time, temporarily or permanently. The same rules apply in all four countries, because none of them has a social security agreement with Australia.

What changes is the amount. Some extras stop within weeks, and after 26 weeks the pension itself can be cut if you haven’t lived in Australia long enough as an adult.

Claim before you leave Australia

This is the rule I’d get right first. To claim the Age Pension you must be an Australian resident and physically in Australia on the day you lodge the claim, with at least 10 years of Australian residence, five of them in one unbroken stretch. Being a resident means living in Australia long term, not just holding the passport. Apart from narrow exceptions, the way to claim from overseas is under a social security agreement, and none of the four countries has one.

• Reaching pension age soon? Lodge your claim in Australia before you move. Services Australia may ask for your residence history before you go, because it decides your rate after 26 weeks.
• Already moved and no longer a resident? You’d have to come back and live in Australia again before you can claim. Then the former resident rule applies: for two years from the day you became a resident again, the pension can’t be paid while you’re overseas. Leave in that time and it’s suspended. Stay away 13 weeks and it’s cancelled.
• Planning to leave years before pension age? Work this through with a licensed financial adviser. Leaving at 60 can mean living on super until you come home, re-establish residence, claim, and wait out the two years.

What you’d get once you live overseas

From 20 September 2026, the most the Age Pension pays someone living overseas is:

• Single: A$1,135.40 a fortnight, against A$1,237.70 for a single pensioner in Australia
• Couple: A$855.90 a fortnight each, against A$933.00 each in Australia

The gap is the two supplements. Rates change every March and September, and these are maximums: the income and assets tests still apply while you’re away. Two points about your home catch people out:

• Keeping it. If you’re away temporarily, your Australian home can stay exempt from the assets test for up to 12 months. If you’ve moved overseas with no plan to return, it becomes an assessable asset, though you’re then assessed against the higher non-homeowner limit.
• Selling before you go. Money from the sale that you set aside to buy a home overseas can be left out of the assets test for up to 24 months. It’s still deemed to earn income under the income test, so it can reduce your rate.

The 26-week mark and the 35-year rule

After 26 weeks outside Australia, your pension is recalculated using your Australian working life residence: the months you were an Australian resident between age 16 and Age Pension age (67). It’s residence that counts, not work.

• 35 years (420 months) or more: no reduction.
• Less than 35 years: your rate is cut in proportion. With 28 years you’d get about 80 percent of what you’d be paid in Australia, so a full single pension of A$1,135.40 becomes about A$910 a fortnight.
• None at all: nothing is paid, even if you still qualify.

The proportion is applied after the income and assets tests, so a part pension shrinks again. Anyone who lived in Australia continuously from 16 to 51 has the full 35 years. People who migrated as adults, or spent years of their working life abroad, are the ones caught. Years you live overseas before pension age, once you’re no longer a resident, don’t add to your total.

The 26 weeks can be extended only for things outside your control that happen while you’re away: you or a family member becoming seriously ill, injured or hospitalised, a death in the family, a natural disaster, war or unrest, a public health crisis, or certain legal proceedings. Deciding to stay longer doesn’t count.

Your rate can go back to normal while you’re visiting Australia. If you plan to split each year between Australia and South East Asia, ask Services Australia how your visits home affect the 26-week count.

No social security agreement with any of the four

Australia has 32 social security agreements. In Asia they’re with India, Japan and South Korea. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines aren’t on the list, and none of them is among the agreements the Department of Social Services says are under negotiation.

The Philippines is the one people ask about. The Philippine Embassy in Canberra met the department in August 2026 to explore pension portability, but there’s no agreement and nothing has been announced. Tax treaties are a separate thing.

Without an agreement, you can’t claim from these countries, time lived there doesn’t count towards the 10-year residence rule, and the standard Australian rules apply.

Telling Services Australia you’re going

Services Australia says to tell it before you leave if you’re going to live in another country or will be away for more than six weeks. You can do it through your Centrelink online account in myGov, by calling the Older Australians line, or at a service centre. For trips under six weeks you don’t need to.

Immigration tells Services Australia when you leave and when you come back, so the 6-, 12- and 26-week clocks run whether you report the trip or not. What immigration can’t tell them is that you’ve left for good, and that changes your payment from the day you go. Any amount you’re paid but weren’t entitled to is a debt you have to repay.

Once you’re living overseas:

• Report changes in your circumstances within 28 days.
• Expect the same income and assets reviews as in Australia, and return forms by the due date so payments keep coming.
• If you’re over 80 and have been overseas for two years, you’ll need to complete a proof of life certificate every two years.

How the pension is paid abroad

Away for less than 12 months, your pension keeps going fortnightly into your Australian account. Once you live overseas long term, it’s paid every four weeks, and you choose where:

• Your Australian bank account, and you move the money across yourself. The money transfers guide compares the ways to do that, and the banking guide covers keeping an Australian account.
• A bank account in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia or the Philippines. All four are on Services Australia’s list for overseas direct deposit. Payments are generally in the local currency, converted at the Reserve Bank’s rate on the day they’re issued. If one is sent in another currency, an intermediary bank deducts a fee.

Either way, your pension is set and indexed in Australian dollars. What it buys in baht or pesos moves with the exchange rate, which matters if you rely on it for a visa income test set in local currency.

Medicare and tax

• Medicare. Smartraveller says you can use Medicare for treatment in Australia for up to five years after you move overseas, and after that only if you move back to live. Where you live, you’ll need international health insurance. The healthcare guide covers what to look for.
• Tax. Moving can change your tax residency, and with it who taxes your pension. Australia has tax treaties with Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines but not Cambodia. The expat tax guide explains residency, and a registered tax agent should look at your case.

Does the pension meet a retirement visa’s income test?

Thailand. The retirement visa accepts monthly income of at least 65,000 THB (about A$2,800), 800,000 THB (about A$34,000) in a Thai bank, or a mix adding up to 800,000 THB a year. The Thailand retirement visa guide has the details. For Age Pensioners, two things matter:

• A full single pension paid overseas is A$1,135.40 a fortnight, about A$2,460 a month. At today’s exchange rate that’s roughly 57,600 THB a month, short of 65,000 THB. On its own it won’t meet the income test, so you’d use the deposit or a combination.
• The Australian Embassy in Bangkok stopped issuing statutory declarations of income on 7 January 2019, because Thai Immigration wanted the income verified and the embassy can’t do that. The Australian consulate in Phuket says Thai Immigration wants to see funds or income in a Thai bank account. So the pension needs to arrive in a Thai account where immigration can see it.

For an O-A applied for from Australia, Thai embassy checklists accept an official income certificate, such as one from a government pension agency. A Services Australia income statement is the equivalent, but check the e-Visa document list first.

Philippines. For the SRRV at 50 and over, the deposit is US$15,000 (about A$21,000) if you have a lifetime pension of at least US$800 a month (about A$1,100), or US$1,000 (about A$1,400) with dependants. Without one it’s US$30,000 (about A$43,000). A full Age Pension clears that bar, but a part pension or a heavily reduced proportional one may not. Documents issued outside the Philippines must be apostilled or authenticated by a Philippine embassy. The PRA doesn’t say how it treats a means-tested pension that can change, so ask before you rely on it. The SRRV guide covers the rest.

For Vietnam and Cambodia, the retiring in Vietnam and retiring in Cambodia guides cover what, if anything, a pension does for your visa.

Who to talk to

• Services Australia International Services for your own pension overseas: 131 673 from within Australia, or +61 3 6222 3455 from overseas (not a free call). Before you leave, ask them to confirm your Australian working life residence, so you know what the 26-week mark will do to your rate.
• A licensed financial adviser for the bigger decisions: when to leave, what to do with your home, and how super and the pension fit together. Ask whether they’ve advised people living overseas.
• A registered tax agent for the residency question and the treaty with the country you’re moving to.