I am a recipient moving to Australia
If you applied for child support in New Zealand and are moving to Australia, you will need to contact Services Australia to make an assessment.
Australia and New Zealand have a reciprocal agreement for child support. This means the parent caring for a child can apply for child support in the country they live in, and the child support can be referred to the other country for collection if the liable parent doesn’t make their payments.
You will have to let us know you are leaving so we can cancel payments and you can start receiving entitlements in Australia.
I am a recipient moving overseas
If you are leaving New Zealand, you need to let us know so we can continue administering your child support. You will need to give us a New Zealand bank account to receive monthly payments.
It is important to give us your income details, otherwise we will have to estimate your income. Send your most recent tax return or evidence of income to make sure you get the right amount.
New Zealand has also joined the 2007 Child Support Convention, which means that we can ask for help to make child support (and domestic maintenance) decisions and receive payments from parents living in other member countries. We can also be asked to do this when a parent lives in New Zealand.
If you are in another country and the child is a New Zealand citizen or the other parent is a New Zealand citizen or is ordinarily resident in New Zealand you may be able to apply for child support.