Travelling or moving overseas on NZ Super
A long trip to see the grandkids in Brisbane, a winter in Rarotonga or a move to be near family in Canada. Each of these affects your NZ Super differently, and getting it wrong can mean paying money back.
Trips of up to 26 weeks
If NZ Super is your only payment, you don’t need to tell Work and Income about a holiday. Your payments carry on while you’re away, as long as you plan to be away for less than 26 weeks and New Zealand is still your home. Work and Income says you may not count as living mainly in New Zealand if you spend more time overseas than here over a year.
Other payments are stricter. The Accommodation Supplement, Disability Allowance and Temporary Additional Support can continue for up to 28 days at most, and you must tell Work and Income before you leave.
If a trip runs over 26 weeks, your payments stop after the 26th week. Come back within 27 to 30 weeks and you won’t have to repay anything. Stay away longer than 30 weeks and you may have to repay all 26 weeks, unless something unexpected kept you away and you apply for an exception.
If your partner is included in your Super under the old non-qualified partner rules, their payment stops after 26 weeks away, and it can’t be added back later.
Moving overseas permanently
You need to apply at least six weeks before you leave. You must qualify for NZ Super in your own right and be living in New Zealand when you apply.
In most countries, you’re paid a proportion of the full rate, based on how long you lived in New Zealand between ages 20 and 65. Work and Income divides the months you lived here by 540, which is 45 years.
Its example is someone with 18 years here, who’d get $238.22 a week before tax as a single person. Payments overseas are made at the gross rate, so talk to Inland Revenue about tax before you go.
If you move to a country with no social security agreement or Pacific arrangement with New Zealand, an overseas pension from there won’t reduce your NZ Super. You’ll need to return a review form every 52 weeks, and Work and Income says your payments stop automatically if you don’t.
You can’t get NZ Super while living in the UK. The social security agreement with the UK may give you a UK payment instead.
Australia and the Pacific
Australia has its own agreement. NZ Super continues for up to 26 weeks after you move.
Within those 26 weeks, you must apply for the Australian Age Pension, which starts at 67, and then for the continuation of your NZ payment. Miss either deadline and you may have to repay money.
New Zealand then pays a share and Centrelink pays the rest. For someone with a full 45 years here, Work and Income’s example gives $506.24 a week before tax.
Twenty-two Pacific countries, including the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, have a special arrangement. You need to intend to live there for more than 52 weeks and apply while you’re living in New Zealand.
With 20 or more years here since age 20, you get the full rate. With 10 years you get half, plus 5% for each year over 10. There’s no living-alone rate.
Wherever you live, watch for overseas government pensions. New Zealand has social security agreements with 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland.
If you get a government pension from another country, NZ Super generally drops by a dollar for each dollar of it. An MSD letter released under the Official Information Act in March 2026 puts it plainly. “For every one dollar a person receives from an overseas pension that meets section 187 of the Act, their New Zealand payment is reduced by one dollar.”
Pensions built from voluntary contributions are exempt, and your partner’s overseas pension doesn’t reduce your NZ Super, unless your partner is included in your payments under the old rules.
Before you book a one-way ticket, call Work and Income or check its overseas pages. Where you’re going decides the rules.
