The Department of Immigration and Citizenship today announced the capping of a series of Contributory Parent visa categories in light of continued high demand for these visas.

Caps are determined by the minister and used to ensure that the planning levels for various components of the migration program are not exceeded.

The numbers for particular subclasses were determined by the relative demand for each visa subclass as a proportion of the total planning level.

Once a specified visa class cap is reached, no more visas can be granted for the remainder of the migration program year, which in this case is the end of June 2008.

It is important to note the capping power does not affect visa grants for applicants who have previously been granted a temporary Contributory Parent visa and who are now applicants for the corresponding permanent Contributory Parent visa.

The total planning level for Contributory Parent visas for 2007-08 is 3500.

The visa subclasses and the new caps are as follows:

• Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) (Class UU(T)) (Subclass 884): 29
• Contributory Aged Parent (Class DG (P)) (Subclass 864): 300
• Contributory Parent (Temporary) (Class UT (T)) (Subclass 173): 650
• Offshore Subclass 143 – Contributory Parent (Class CA (P)): 2521

Caps for the current year have already been allocated.