New Zealand — NZ Super Overseas Travel (26-Week Absence Limit)

Summary

Limit

First 26 weeks (182 days) of each trip

Measured

Per absence, from departure to return

Stops

After the 26th week away

Grace

Back within 30 weeks: no repayment

Applies to

NZ Super & Veteran's Pension

Authority

Work and Income (MSD)

Your NZ Super or Veteran's Pension keeps being paid for the first 26 weeks (182 days) of each trip overseas, provided you intended to return within that time and still live primarily in New Zealand. Stay longer and payments stop after the 26th week; come back within 30 weeks and you keep what was paid, but beyond 30 weeks you may have to repay it unless the delay was unforeseeable. For trips you know will run past 26 weeks, apply to Work and Income before you leave.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you:

• Receive NZ Superannuation or the Veteran's Pension and want to travel.
• Are planning an extended trip — a long holiday, family visit, or several months abroad.
• Split your time between New Zealand and another country and make repeated overseas trips.
• Are considering moving overseas but hoping to keep some pension entitlement.

It applies whatever your nationality — the test is about your time away and whether you still live primarily in New Zealand, not your citizenship.

The rule — and why it exists

NZ Super and the Veteran's Pension are designed for people who live in New Zealand. Under section 22 of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 (and section 177 of the Veterans' Support Act 2014 for the Veteran's Pension), the pension stays payable for the first 26 weeks of any absence if:

• the absence does not exceed 30 weeks; or
• it exceeds 30 weeks only because of circumstances beyond your control that you could not reasonably have foreseen before leaving.

Work and Income applies this by continuing payments while you intend to travel for less than 26 weeks, intend to live primarily in New Zealand and consider New Zealand home. Payments stop after the 26th week of a trip. Longer planned absences fall under separate portability rules, which you must apply for before you go and which may pay a different amount.

Why it exists: the pension is a residence-based benefit. The 26-week limit lets superannuitants take real trips while still tying ongoing payment to genuinely living in New Zealand, rather than paying a full domestic pension to someone who has effectively moved away.

Counting the days

The 26 weeks are counted per absence — from the day you leave New Zealand to the day you come back — not as a running total across trips.

1. 1Each departure starts a new absence; coming home ends it.
2. 2Up to 26 weeks (182 days) away on that trip: payments continue as normal.
3. 3Past 26 weeks: payments stop after the 26th week.
4. 4Back within 30 weeks: you keep the 26 weeks already paid. Past 30 weeks: you may have to repay them unless the delay was unexpected and beyond your control.

Separate trips are not added together under section 22. They still matter, though: Work and Income says you may stop meeting the criteria if you spend more time overseas than in New Zealand over the course of a year, because the payment assumes you live primarily here.

Examples

Example 1 — one long holiday, safely under the limit

You leave New Zealand for a five-month trip (about 150 days) and come home. You stayed well under 26 weeks, so your NZ Super was paid throughout and nothing else needed arranging.

Example 2 — a delayed return

You plan a 24-week trip, but a hospital stay abroad keeps you away for 33 weeks. Payments stop after the 26th week. Because the delay was unexpected and beyond your control, you email Work and Income before week 26 ends and apply to keep payments going. If the application is approved, you do not have to repay the 26 weeks already received.

Example 3 — several trips, mostly away

Over ten months you take three trips of roughly 70 days each. Each trip is well under 26 weeks, so the 26-week rule itself is never breached. But about 210 of those 300 days were spent overseas — more time abroad than at home — so Work and Income may question whether you still live primarily in New Zealand.

Example 4 — a planned long stay abroad

You intend to spend a year with family overseas. Because that clearly exceeds 26 weeks, you apply to Work and Income before leaving. What you receive may depend on the country and any social security agreement, but you avoid an unexpected stop in payments.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Unexpected delays. If you meant to be back within 26 weeks but are held up by something beyond your control — aircraft breakdown, bereavement, sudden illness or injury — apply to keep payments going, ideally before the 26 weeks finish.
• Partners included in your payment. If your partner is included in your NZ Super, their payments also stop after the 26th week, and they cannot be added back when you return — they must qualify in their own right.
• Longer permitted absences. The Act separately allows payment during absences of up to 2 years for Ministry of Health-funded medical treatment overseas, and up to 156 weeks of full-time volunteer work with a recognised aid agency.
• Social security agreements and Pacific portability. If you move to a country New Zealand has an agreement with, or to certain Pacific countries, special rules may govern whether and how much pension you receive — arranged through MSD International Services before you go.
• The residence requirement is rising. For people turning 65 from 1 July 2024, the years you must have lived in New Zealand since age 20 increase gradually by date of birth, from 10 years (born on or before 30 June 1959) to 20 years (born on or after 1 July 1977), including 5 years since age 50. Existing recipients before 1 July 2024 are unaffected.
• Other payments have a 28-day clock. Supplementary payments such as the Winter Energy Payment or Accommodation Supplement may continue for up to 28 days overseas, even though your Super itself continues for 26 weeks — and only if you still meet their criteria while away, such as your accommodation or disability costs continuing. If not, they stop when you leave New Zealand. For the Winter Energy Payment, the 28 days are a combined total for every trip in the winter period (22 weeks from 1 May), not 28 days per trip (Social Security Act 2018, s 220).

Common misconceptions

• "The 26 weeks is an annual allowance." No — it applies to each absence. Coming home ends the absence, and the next trip starts a new one.
• "Short trips can never cause a problem." Each trip is fine under the 26-week rule, but spending more time overseas than in New Zealand over a year can mean you no longer meet the living-in-NZ criteria.
• "If I'm a week late, I lose everything." Not if you are back within 30 weeks — payments stop after week 26, but you keep what was paid.
• "I can just sort it out when I get back." For long planned absences, you must apply before you leave; for unexpected delays, apply before the 26 weeks run out.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Work and Income — Travelling overseas for 26 weeks or less (NZ Super and Veteran's Pension)
• Work and Income — NZ Super and Veteran's Pension: overseas travel
• Work and Income — Change to residence criteria for NZ Super and Veteran's Pension (from 1 July 2024)
• New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, s 22 (first 26 weeks of temporary absences)
• Work and Income — Winter Energy Payment
• Social Security Act 2018, s 220 — special absence rule: Winter Energy Payment