Proving citizenship

[Novella]

This is a bit of a vent, every time I make a claim I have to present proof of citizenship, I have done this about half a dozen times and it frustrates the hell out of me. I like to make my claims online to avoid having to take two young kids to a family assistance office then I have to go there anyway to prove I am a citizen. I moved to australia with my family from New Zealand when I was four and have been a citizen for over 20 years. I dot't get how they can keep track of all my other details yet I have to prove citizenship everytime.

I miss understood when I made a claim after dd2 birth for FTB, I assumed my claim was for the entire financial year and Id receive my entitlements for the first half of the year at the end of the fiancial year, however it was only from the date of the claim. So I have to make a lump sum payment to recieve the $1000 economic security plan payment that was announced in october last year (only getting it for dd1 as dd2 wasn't born before the anouncement).

I wish thigns weren't so difficult with centrelink but I have to admit while the system has multiple failures everyone I have spoken to in their call centres have been polite and extremely helpful.

[~clover~]

If anyone born in Australia is off payments for a certain amout of time, I'm pretty sure we have to have our birth cert to prove pretty much the same thing.
So for the time I wasn't getting PP, then reapplied, I needed my birth cert, even though I was already getting FTB.

[Doing my best]

Sararose,

Unfortunately with a system that has to do as much as their system does, sometimes things get missed, but I understand your frustration!!

My DH is also NZ born (moved here with me about 7 yrs ago), and up till early this year everything we had claimed for DD was in his name. When I decided to give up work and claim my family tax benefit fortnightly instead of yearly (I was born in Australia), I was asked to prove my husbands eligibilty to live in Australia . Thankfully I was able to see the funny side.

[Novella]

thanks for your experiences girls.

bjrose-I have been claiming childcare for 2.5yrs and,ftb baby bonuses etc and in the last three years I have had to prove it at least 6 times. I can understand If I hadn't claimed for a period of time why I would have to prove it but Im currently claiming other things.