Claim super for temporary residents

Your client could apply for a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP) with their super fund or with the ATO to claim the accumulated superannuation (super) if they meet all the following requirements: 

• Your client entered Australia on a temporary visa listed under the Migration Act 1958 (excluding subclasses 405 and 410)
• Your client’s visa is no longer in effect
• Your client has departed Australia
• Your client is not an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or a permanent resident of Australia.

If your client’s account balance is over $5,000, the DASP application must be submitted via the ATO, using the ATO online DASP portal or paper application. If your client elects to submit a paper application, they’ll also need to apply for Certification of Immigration Status from the Government’s Department of Home Affairs. The Department of Home Affairs will charge your client a fee to issue the certificate. This certification will be sent to the superannuation fund your client nominates in the application process.

 If your client’s account balance is below $5,000, the DASP application can be submitted to the super fund or via the ATO. We require a completed withdrawal request as well as evidence that they were a temporary resident (ie Visa) and that they’ve left the country. 

If your client leaves Australia and doesn’t apply to close their account as a DASP, after a specific period of time (generally after six months of leaving Australia), the money will be paid to the ATO as unclaimed super. The ATO monitors and manages the transfer of unclaimed super for former temporary residents. 

The ATO will let a super fund know that the member’s super account is unclaimed super money of a former temporary resident who has left Australia and their work visa has expired or been cancelled. 

Once the super fund receives a notification from the ATO, they must pay the account balance to the ATO as unclaimed super money.