Moving to a social security agreement country
New Zealand has Social Security Agreements with the following countries:
- Australia
- Canada
- Denmark
- Hellenic Republic (Greece)
- Ireland
- Jersey and Guernsey
- Malta
- Netherlands
- United Kingdom
A client will not have continuing entitlement to payment under the General Portability provisions if they have moved permanently to a country with which New Zealand has a social security agreement on social security to live.
If the client moves to an agreement country permanently they should be advised to apply for New Zealand Superannuation or Veteran's Pension under the social security agreement. If a client has entitlement under the social security agreement, International Services will reassess their entitlement to New Zealand Superannuation or Veteran's Pension. Their General Portability payments are cancelled from the payday after the client's departure from their previous country of residence.
If a client has gone to live in the United Kingdom their payments will be cancelled from the payday after the date they left their previous country of residence. Clients should be advised to apply for a United Kingdom pension when they arrive in the United Kingdom.
Note if a client intends to reside in more than one overseas country, one of those countries being the United Kingdom, they need to be advised that the order of the countries in which they want to reside is important. They should schedule the United Kingdom last on the list of countries because, unless they intend to move to another agreement country, they will not be entitled to payment.
For more information contact International Services or see:
