Social Security Payments covered by the AoS

If the assuree receives one or more of the following payments from Centrelink during the AoS period, Centrelink has the legal right and responsibility to recover the amount paid from the assurer through its normal debt recovery procedures:

• Newstart Allowance

• Youth Allowance

• Austudy Payment

• Widow Allowance

• Mature Age Allowance

• Partner Allowance

• Sickness Allowance

• Parenting Payment

• Special Benefit

If the assuree lodges a claim for any of these payments, Centrelink will contact the assurer in order to establish that they are neither willing nor able to support the assuree before the payment is granted. Centrelink must also be satisfied that it is unreasonable for the assuree to accept support from the assurer before payment is granted.

If Centrelink is satisfied that the assurer is not willing or able to support the assuree, or that it is unreasonable for the assuree to accept this help, payment may be granted. However, the amount of payment that the assuree receives will be raised as a debt against the assurer. This places the onus of providing financial support onto the assurer while ensuring the assuree has financial assistance should this be necessary.

At the end of the AoS period, Centrelink advises the assurer about any debt that they may have. If there is a monetary bond, Centrelink will recover the debt from this. If no bond exists, or the bond is less than the debt amount, Centrelink will recover the balance owed using its normal debt recovery processes.

At all stages during the AoS process, the applicant has the right of appeal to a Centrelink Authorised Review Officer and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

Mandatory Assurances of Support

If the visa carries a mandatory AoS provision, an acceptable AoS must be provided, including the lodgement of a monetary bond. This bond is a source of available funds for AoS debt recovery purposes if recoverable social security payments are made to the assuree during the AoS period. The bond is lodged and held by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for the entire AoS period. It is released to the assurer at the end of the AoS period, with the deduction of any amount needed to repay recoverable social security payments to Centrelink.

The amount of the bond is determined by the visa class for which the migrant is applying. A bond of $5,000 for the primary applicant and $2,000 for any additional adults on the same application is required for most visas. For visas under the contributory parent category, the bond is $10,000 for the primary applicant and $4,000 for any additional adult applicants.