About International Social Security Agreements
Australia’s international social security agreements assist people to access certain pensions from Australia and/or an agreement country that they may not otherwise be able to access. They do this by allowing people to:
- lodge a claim for a pension regardless of whether they are residing in Australia or the agreement country
- combine periods of residence in Australia with periods of contributions in the agreement country. This is to meet any minimum residence or contribution periods required to qualify for a pension.
For more information on Australia’s international social security agreements, payments and eligibility, visit the Services Australia(Opens in a new tab/window) website.
Some of Australia’s international social security agreements also regulate the payment of superannuation contributions and equivalent contributions in the agreement country to avoid double-coverage for workers seconded between countries.
Visit the Australian Taxation Office’s website for more information on superannuation(Opens in a new tab/window).
Current agreements
Australia has agreements with 32 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States of America.
Understand how agreements help people to access pensions, which pensions are covered and how to make a claim at Services Australia(Opens in a new tab/window).
The text of each social security agreement(Opens in a new tab/window) is set out in Australia’s domestic legislation.
The Social Security Guide(Opens in a new tab/window) has information for decision makers administering the legislation about how the provisions of each agreement operate.
For more information on whether an agreement can assist seconded workers, contact the Australian Taxation Office.(Opens in a new tab/window)
Previous Social Security Agreement with the United Kingdom (UK)
Australia and the UK previously had a social security agreement, but the agreement was terminated from 1 March 2001.
Australia terminated the agreement because the UK refused to change its policy of not indexing UK pensions in Australia. The UK also refused to re-negotiate the agreement to include indexation for UK pensions. Australia indexes its pensions regardless of whether the person is in Australia or overseas.
Successive Australian Governments have made representations to the UK Government seeking to address the indexation issue or re-negotiate an agreement. Ultimately this is an issue only the UK Government can resolve.
More information about claiming UK pensions is available at Services Australia(Opens in a new tab/window).