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Social Security Act 2018

Other provisions - Regulations

436: Regulations: factors affecting benefits: absence from New Zealand

You could also call this:

“Rules about getting benefits when you leave New Zealand”

The Governor-General can make rules about how your benefits are affected when you leave New Zealand. These rules can do several things:

They can make exceptions to the general rule that your benefit stops when you leave the country. For example, if you forget to tell the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) before you leave, but you tell them after you’ve gone, you might still get your benefit. Or if you have a good reason for not telling them, like an emergency, you might still get your benefit.

The rules can also say that if you forget to tell MSD before you leave, you need to tell them as soon as you can. If you do this, you might still get your benefit from the day you tell them.

MSD can decide to pay your benefit for a certain time while you’re away, or for longer if you meet certain conditions.

These rules don’t apply to some benefits, like the winter energy payment, New Zealand Superannuation, veteran’s pension, or benefits that are part of agreements with other countries.

When the Governor-General makes these rules, they become law that everyone has to follow.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6784008.

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Part 8 Other provisions
Regulations

436Regulations: factors affecting benefits: absence from New Zealand

  1. The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make regulations for the purposes of section 219.

  2. Regulations made under subsection (1) may (without limitation) do all or any of the following:

  3. prescribe exceptions to the general rule in section 219, and that the regulations require MSD, or give MSD discretion, to apply in a particular case, for example,—
    1. because a beneficiary who intends to be absent from New Zealand has not performed the duty imposed by section 114(1) to notify MSD, before leaving New Zealand, of the beneficiary’s intended absence, but has, after leaving New Zealand, notified MSD of the beneficiary’s absence as required by regulations made under paragraph (b); or
      1. because a beneficiary’s absence from New Zealand, and failure to notify MSD of the absence until after the beneficiary has left New Zealand, or returned to New Zealand after the absence, in a particular case, is justified for 1 or more humanitarian reasons (as that term is defined by the regulations):
      2. require beneficiaries who have not performed the duty imposed by section 114(1) and who are of kinds specified in the regulations to notify MSD of their absences from New Zealand, and provide that, despite section 219 and other provisions of the regulations, their benefits are payable from the date of notification of their absence from New Zealand:
        1. authorise MSD, in its discretion, if a benefit is under the regulations payable on and after a date in respect of a beneficiary’s absence from New Zealand, to pay that benefit to the beneficiary for—
          1. a period starting on that date, and of a duration specified in the regulations; or
            1. a longer period, if MSD is satisfied payment of the benefit complies with any applicable criteria prescribed by the regulations.

            2. Regulations made under subsection (1) do not apply to a benefit payable under—

            3. subpart 11 of Part 2 (winter energy payment); or
              1. sections 21 to 35 of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001; or
                1. sections 176 to 196 of the Veterans' Support Act 2014; or
                  1. any reciprocity agreement with another country adopted by an order made under section 380.

                    1. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section 436(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).