What are the rules for Aussie expats receiving the aged pension while living in Thailand?

@Tony ********

This has been kicked around for the last couple of years in the Australians In Thailand group. Anyone who believes that how pensioners who choose to live in a foreign country will affect the outcome of an election are dreaming. You have to remember that taxpayers living in Australia are subsidising Australians choosing to live overseas. The conditions will only get stricter, as governments know it's not a vote winner. The only thing we can do is look for workarounds, as many have done with the residency status, but unfortunately the new proposals will curtail many of those. The pension portability is simply a case of going back to Australia for the two years "sentence" and just biting the bullet. The AIT group already has many members currently in Australia doing their "penance"

@Darren *****

Unfortunately Australia does not have a contributory national pension system the way the UK does. In the UK, people do actually "pay in" to a National Insurance system which does guarantee a pension on reaching a certain age. Australia doesn't have this, but merely operates a social welfare system which really only benefits those who have comparatively little.

@Todd ********

Actually no-one is being held captive. During covid anyone with a legitimate reason to leave Australia was totally allowed. I personally know a few people who were in and out several times. It was not much different to how Thailand was operating. Travel between different areas was restricted, and people coming in were subjected to quarantine.

@Todd ********

Australia doesn't have a government "pension system". There is no contributory pension system except as provided by law through the employer. The government system is a welfare system designed only to help those who are in "need" of it, and have insufficient assets or means to support themselves. People who haven't worked a day in their lives and have nothing are entitled to it. So what you get from welfare is not "your money" as you suggest. Canada is probably different. In the early 1980's Australia started a compulsory superannuation system whereby individuals and their employers provided the funds for future retirement needs. I don't qualify for the state pension as I have a very lucrative superannuation pension. This is even though I paid taxes my whole life (however in Australia there is no connection between tax paid and state pension entitlement). My private pension is mine to do as I like, I have no restrictions as to where I live, and it is a defined benefit. I can start working again and my benefit is unaffected. What my nation "should" have and what it has got are two very different things. I was merely pointing out to the OP how and why the state pension works the way it does.

@Roberto ********

I understand that it is your money but everything is a business. Someone thinks it's a bad idea that you are spending money elsewhere not stimulating the local economy.

@Roberto ********

as well the Aussie taxpayer should. The pensioner has paid into that pension for a working career. Your nation should have zero input into your chosen lifestyle or marriage choices. You are being compensated with both your own savings and taxpayer contributions. That’s normal in many nations. What’s not normal is the nation restricting where you have to live in order to receive your own money back

@Us ****

I don't think those bonds exist or are worth the paper they are written on.

50% of US Banks are sitting on piles of these but their customers want their cash. The unrealised loses on these are in the trillions because of inflation.

Just a thought.