Senator Lundy: The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question: The current median processing time for Dependent Child (Subclass 445) visa applications in 2011-2012 migration program year to 30 April 2012 is 212 days or 7 months. There is no annual cap on the number of Dependent Child visas. The visa is, however, subject to planning levels in the Migration Program which is determined annually by the Government as part of the Budget. My Department has a responsibility to ensure that the numbers of visas granted overall and within each visa category are in accordance with the agreed planning levels. Departmental resources are allocated to ensure that the planning levels are met over the course of the program year. The planning level for Child category visas, which includes Dependent Child visas, in the 2011-2012 migration program year was 3 450 visa grants, an increase of 4.5 per cent from the previous program year. On 8 May 2012 the Government announced a further 11.6 per cent increase in the size of the Chid category for the 2012-2013 migration program year. The planning level will be 3 850. The table below shows visa application lodgements, grants, refusals and withdrawals or otherwise finalised from persons from high risk and low risk countries. Dependent Child (Subclass 445) visa applications 2010-2011 program year 2011-2012 program year (YTD 30 April 2012) Lodgements – Offshore High Risk Countries 681 515 Low Risk Countries 49 19 Total – Lodgements –Offshore 730 534 Lodgements — Onshore High Risk Countries 25 34 Low Risk Countries 52 24 Total – Lodgements –Onshore 77 58 TOTAL—ALL LODGEMENTS 807 592 Grants — Offshore High Risk countries 523 451 Low Risk Countries 36 26 Total—Grants offshore 559 477 Grants — Onshore High Risk countries 28 16 Low Risk Countries 38 22 Total—Grants onshore 66 38 TOTAL—ALL GRANTS 625 515 Refusals — Offshore High Risk Countries 41 54 Low Risk Countries 3 2 Total—Refusals offshore 44 56 Refusals — Onshore High Risk Countries 4 0 Low Risk Countries 8 0 Total—Refusals onshore 12 0 TOTAL—ALL REFUSALS 56 56 Withdrawals or otherwise resolved — Offshore High Risk Countries 32 25 Low Risk Countries 0 2 Total – Withdrawals or otherwise resolved—offshore 32 27 Withdrawals or Otherwise Resolved — Onshore High Risk Countries 5 2 Low Risk Countries 7 2 Total – Withdrawals or otherwise resolved—onshore 12 4 TOTAL—ALL WITHDRAWALS OR OTHERWISE RESOLVED 44 31 High risk countries are those countries whose nationals are not eligible for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) to be issued for travel to Australia. The Department's current list of low risk countries, that is ETA-eligible countries, is below: Andorra Malaysia Austria Malta Belgium Monaco Brunei The Netherlands Canada Norway Denmark Portugal Finland Republic of San Marino France Singapore Germany South Korea Greece Spain Hong Kong (SAR) Sweden Iceland Switzerland Ireland Taiwan Italy United Kingdom—British Citizen Japan United Kingdom—British National (Overseas) Liechtenstein United States of America Luxembourg Vatican City Information about reasons that applications are refused is recorded on individual files but cannot be aggregated to provide caseload-wide statistical reporting. The timeframes for processing Subclass 445 visas is based on expected demand and complexity of processing. These timeframes incorporate the likelihood of clients needing to undertake health and security requirements and existing pipelines for deciding cases. A review is currently underway to review processing timeframes for the processing of Subclass 445 visas lodged inside and outside Australia.