This step is where most people stall, so do it first. Centrelink needs to verify everything you tell them, and assembling the paperwork up-front is far less stressful than scrambling for it mid-application. Allow yourself a couple of weeks if there's anything you'll need to request from a bank, super fund or overseas pension authority.

At a high level you'll need to assemble four categories of paperwork:

• Identity — passport, driver licence, Medicare card, birth or citizenship certificate.
• Financial — recent statements for bank accounts, term deposits, super, investments.
• Property & assets — council rates, mortgage statement, vehicle and other asset details.
• Income — payslips if working, foreign-pension statements, latest tax return.

myGov is the front door for almost all online dealings with Centrelink, and once it's set up, it makes everything afterwards much easier. If you've already used myGov for tax or Medicare, you can skip ahead to "Link Centrelink".

Create your account

Go to my.gov.au and click "Create account". You'll need an email address that only you use, plus a mobile phone number. The system uses both for security.

Verify your identity

You'll be asked to verify your identity using ID documents — typically driver licence and Medicare card, or passport. Have these in front of you before you start.

Link Centrelink to myGov

Once your account exists, you "link" Centrelink to it. This is where you'll need a Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN) — if you've ever had any dealings with Centrelink, even decades ago, you already have one. If you don't, the linking process will guide you through getting one allocated.

Turn on notifications

Set the account to email or SMS you when there's a message. Centrelink uses these notifications to ask for follow-up documents during processing — missing one can delay your claim by weeks.

You have three ways to lodge your Age Pension claim. The online route is the most common and usually the fastest, but it's not the right fit for everyone.

You can also mix the approaches — start online and call if you get stuck on a particular question, or take a printed claim form into a service centre for help finishing it.

Once your claim is in, the rest is up to Centrelink. In broad terms, you'll get an immediate confirmation, then your claim is assessed (sometimes with a phone call to clarify details), and a decision usually arrives within four to eight weeks for a straightforward claim. Payments are then backdated either to the day you became eligible or the day you applied, whichever is later.