Often central to agreement cases involving residence in Australia and insurance or contribution periods overseas.
Open payment →International decision tool
Two countries.
One question at a time.
Worked or lived in Australia and another country? Tell Compass what you are trying to understand. It will organise the agreement questions into a pathway without pretending to make the entitlement decision for you.
32 current agreement countries
Qualification
Portability
AWLR & rate
Posted workers
Start here
Build your international pathway.
Choose a country and payment, then narrow the question. You can change any answer at any time.
The four ideas that cause most confusion
Know which question you are asking.
01Qualification+
An agreement may let relevant periods in Australia and the other country be considered together when testing a minimum qualifying period.
It does not remove the rest of the payment rules.02Portability+
This is about whether a payment can continue while you are outside Australia, for how long, and under which agreement or domestic-law rules.
Qualification and portability are different tests.03Rate / AWLR+
For some Australian pensions paid overseas, Australian working life residence can affect the proportional rate. AWLR is a residence concept, not a record of years worked or tax paid.
Use the AWLR calculator only after establishing that the rate rule is relevant.04Posted workers+
Some agreements coordinate compulsory social-security or superannuation contributions when an employee is temporarily sent to work in the other country.
This is a different pathway from pension qualification.Payment first, country second
Which Australian payment are you actually testing?
Agreement coverage is payment-specific. Start with the payment rather than assuming that an agreement covers every Centrelink payment.
Some agreements can affect qualification or portability. Medical and other DSP rules still apply.
Open payment →May be relevant under some agreements, but the care relationship and normal payment rules still need to be tested.
Open payment →Listed in the Australian agreement framework, with actual coverage depending on the applicable agreement.
Open payment →A less common payment that can appear in agreement coverage. Compass does not yet maintain a dedicated payment page, so verify it directly with Services Australia.
Verify coverage ↗Country explorer
Find the other country.
Every card below is a country in the current Compass agreement list. Open a country to see its Australian payment tests, decision criteria and wider welfare-system profile.
Asia
India
Current agreement · historical schedule 31
Open decision page → AsiaJapan
Current agreement · historical schedule 23
Open decision page → AsiaKorea
Current agreement · historical schedule 21
Open decision page → AustralasiaNew Zealand
Current agreement · historical schedule 3
Open decision page → EuropeAustria
Current agreement · historical schedule 10
Open decision page → EuropeBelgium
Current agreement · historical schedule 18
Open decision page → EuropeCroatia
Current agreement · historical schedule 16
Open decision page → EuropeCyprus
Current agreement · historical schedule 11
Open decision page → EuropeCzech Republic
Current agreement · historical schedule 27
Open decision page → EuropeDenmark
Current agreement · historical schedule 12
Open decision page → EuropeEstonia
Current agreement · added after the preserved 2017 schedule map
Open decision page → EuropeFinland
Current agreement · historical schedule 24
Open decision page → EuropeGermany
Current agreement · historical schedule 14
Open decision page → EuropeGreece
Current agreement · historical schedule 22
Open decision page → EuropeHungary
Current agreement · historical schedule 29
Open decision page → EuropeIreland
Current agreement · historical schedule 8
Open decision page → EuropeItaly
Current agreement · historical schedule 2
Open decision page → EuropeLatvia
Current agreement · historical schedule 30
Open decision page → EuropeMalta
Current agreement · historical schedule 6
Open decision page → EuropeNetherlands
Current agreement · historical schedule 7
Open decision page → EuropeNorth Macedonia
Current agreement · historical schedule 26
Open decision page → EuropeNorway
Current agreement · historical schedule 19
Open decision page → EuropePoland
Current agreement · historical schedule 25
Open decision page → EuropePortugal
Current agreement · historical schedule 9
Open decision page → EuropeSerbia
Current agreement · added after the preserved 2017 schedule map
Open decision page → EuropeSlovak Republic
Current agreement · historical schedule 28
Open decision page → EuropeSlovenia
Current agreement · historical schedule 17
Open decision page → EuropeSpain
Current agreement · historical schedule 5
Open decision page → EuropeSwitzerland
Current agreement · historical schedule 20
Open decision page → AmericasCanada
Current agreement · historical schedule 4
Open decision page → AmericasChile
Current agreement · historical schedule 15
Open decision page → AmericasUnited States of America
Current agreement · historical schedule 13
Open decision page →Rate question
AWLR only matters in the right context.
Australian working life residence can affect the proportional rate of some Australian pensions paid outside Australia. It is Australian residence between age 16 and Age Pension age — not simply years worked.
Are you testing a pension?→
Will it be paid outside Australia?→
Does the applicable rule use AWLR?→
Then calculate
Decision sequence
What happens after you choose a country?
Choose the country
Confirm the country currently has an agreement with Australia. A signed or negotiated agreement is not necessarily in force.
Choose the payment
Identify the Australian or foreign payment you are testing. Coverage varies between agreements.
Map residence and contributions
Separate Australian working-life residence from foreign contribution or insurance periods before testing totalisation.
Check claim location
Where you live when you claim affects the route, forms and sometimes the legal test.
Test portability and rate
If payment may continue outside Australia, check portability, proportional-rate and current payment rules.
Verify the authority
Use the current agreement text and Services Australia guidance before relying on an outcome.
Evidence layer
Open the detail only when you need it.
Status, legal sources and technical terminology remain available without crowding the decision path.
Agreement statusCurrent vs implementing vs negotiating vs ended+
Signed 2025-08-26. Commencement depends on legal and administrative steps being completed.
Negotiations announced 2021-22 Budget. Do not treat this as a current agreement.
Negotiations announced 2024-03. Do not treat this as a current agreement.
Negotiations announced 2024-10. Do not treat this as a current agreement.
Negotiations announced 2024-11. Do not treat this as a current agreement.
Negotiations announced 2025-02. Do not treat this as a current agreement.
Former agreement ended 2001-03-01. Historical/protected cases may need specific guidance.
Source trailDSS, Services Australia, legislation and Core AU records+
Current country/status authority
DSS — international social security agreements
Australian Government · Department of Social Services
Current agreement countries, implementation/negotiation status and agreement policy overview
core_ss_global_sources.au_international_agreements
Open authority ↗
Operational agreement guidance
Services Australia — international social security agreements
Services Australia
Claims pathways, qualification support, how agreements help and operational guidance
core_ss_global_sources.au_services_agreements
Open authority ↗
Operational country directory
Services Australia — agreement countries
Services Australia
Country directory and regional agreement pages
core_ss_global_sources.au_services_agreement_countries
Open authority ↗
Australian payment categories
Services Australia — payments covered by agreements
Services Australia
Australian payments and foreign pension categories that agreements may cover
core_ss_global_sources.au_services_agreement_payments
Open authority ↗
Decision-maker guidance
Social Security Guide — what agreements are
Australian Government · Department of Social Services
How scheduled agreements modify social security law and the shared-responsibility model
core_ss_global_sources.au_social_security_guide_agreements
Open authority ↗
Controlling legislation
Social Security (International Agreements) Act 1999
Federal Register of Legislation
Current Act and scheduled agreement texts
core_ss_global_sources.au_international_agreements_act
Open authority ↗
AWLR calculation guidance
DSS Social Security Guide — Australian working life residence
Australian Government · Department of Social Services
Australian working life residence (AWLR), proportional agreement pension rates and the 420-month / 35-year residence factor
core_ss_global_sources.au_awlr_guide
Open authority ↗
Seconded-worker superannuation guidance
ATO — super for employees working overseas: certificate of coverage
Australian Taxation Office
Certificate of coverage for temporarily posted employees and avoidance of duplicate compulsory superannuation or equivalent contributions
core_ss_global_sources.au_ato_certificate_coverage
Open authority ↗
Plain-English glossaryAWLR, totalisation, portability, agreement pension and related terms+
Administrative arrangement
The practical procedures the two countries prefer to follow when administering a scheduled agreement. It records administration but is not itself the treaty.
DSS definition ↗Age pension age
The pension age defined by Australian social-security legislation. It also marks the upper boundary of Australian working life residence.
DSS definition ↗Agreement country
A country with which Australia has a current scheduled international social-security agreement.
DSS definition ↗Agreement pension
An Australian pension whose qualification, payability or continuing qualification relies on one or more provisions of a scheduled agreement.
DSS definition ↗Australia
The geographic and legal concept of Australia used by social-security law, subject to the definitions in Australian legislation.
DSS definition ↗Australian resident
A person who meets the Australian-residence definition in social-security law. Agreement wording can distinguish residence at any time from working-life residence.
DSS definition ↗Australian working life residence (AWLR)
Australian residence between age 16 and Age Pension age. For many agreement pensions paid proportionally, AWLR is converted to whole months and compared with a maximum residence period.
DSS definition ↗Autonomous pension
A pension paid under Australia's ordinary domestic social-security law without needing an international agreement to establish entitlement.
DSS definition ↗Ceiling
A limit that prevents an Australian pension paid overseas from exceeding the notional amount that would otherwise be payable to the person in Australia.
DSS definition ↗Cooperation
Agreement provisions that can allow the two countries to cooperate in administering social-security arrangements, including interactions with some third-country agreements.
DSS definition ↗Direct deduction
A special agreement-pension rating arrangement where a foreign pension can be deducted dollar for dollar from Australian entitlement until autonomous qualification is reached, subject to the agreement.
DSS definition ↗Domestic law
The national law of either country that continues to govern its own social-security system except where an agreement or the international-agreements legislation modifies it.
DSS definition ↗Embargo
An agreement mechanism that can allow one country to recover overlapping interim benefits from arrears later paid by the other country.
DSS definition ↗Equivalent periods of residence
Periods in an agreement country that can be treated as equivalent Australian residence for a specified totalisation step where the agreement permits.
DSS definition ↗Government employment
Employment by Australian government bodies, including relevant state, territory and local-government employment for agreement purposes.
DSS definition ↗Legislation
The laws identified by each agreement as being within its scope. For Australia, this means the parts of social-security law dealing with the covered payments.
DSS definition ↗Lodgement
The agreement rules about where and how a person may lodge a claim, including some cross-border and third-country claim pathways.
DSS definition ↗Overlapping
Where Australian-residence periods and foreign insurance or contribution periods cover the same time, the overlapping time is generally counted once in totalisation.
DSS definition ↗Portability
Whether and for how long a pension or allowance remains payable while a person is outside the paying country, subject to domestic law and the relevant agreement.
DSS definition ↗Pro-rata
A contributory-system term for a benefit amount calculated as a fraction when qualification is achieved using combined periods under totalisation.
DSS definition ↗Proportional rate
An Australian pension rate paid overseas that is calculated using the relevant Australian working life residence factor or another agreement-specific residence rule.
DSS definition ↗Protocol
A formal instrument used to amend an existing bilateral agreement without replacing the entire agreement text.
DSS definition ↗Reciprocity
The principle that agreement partners provide coordinated or comparable social-security treatment to people affected by the agreement.
DSS definition ↗Scheduled International Social Security Agreement
A bilateral social-security agreement whose text is given legal effect through the schedules to Australia's international-agreements legislation.
DSS definition ↗Totalisation
The agreement process of combining relevant residence, contribution or insurance periods from two countries to help satisfy a minimum qualifying-period rule.
DSS definition ↗Legal frameworkCurrent Act, DSS guide and agreement authorities+
Compass separates current agreement status from the preserved 2017 schedule map. Country welfare-system structure comes from ISSA; entitlement and agreement coverage must be checked against current Australian authorities and the agreement text.