Visas, Travel, Childcare
Visas
Most attendees of AFMC2024 will either be of Australian or New Zealand origin, or will be eligible to enter Australia under one of several visa-free entry schemes. If the latter, please check the details - it may be necessary for you to submit some paperwork to the Australian government prior to travel under this scheme.
If you are travelling from elsewhere, and believe you will need to apply for a visa to enter Australia, we suggest that you act on this now - visa applications can take several months. Please check with your local Australian high commission or embassy for the requirements for your country.
To assist your visa application, we can provide a Letter of Invitation to AFMC2024, which we will prepare for authors of accepted abstracts, invited speakers or paid registered attendees.
Please contact our secretary Dr Jong-Leng Liow by email on afmc2024exec@gmail.com or j.liow@unsw.edu.au to request your Letter of Invitation.
Travel
A Welcome Reception for AFMC2024 will be held on the evening of Sunday 1 December, with the conference sessions starting early on Monday 2 December. For this reason, and the common occurrence of flight delays due to Canberra early-morning fog, we do not recommend arriving on Monday morning!
Instead, for those travelling from elsewhere in Australia or New Zealand, we recommend that you arrive on the Sunday, or even earlier, so you can enjoy your Canberra visit and join us without undue haste.
For those travelling from overseas, especially Europe or North America, it may take a few days to adjust to the timezone difference. Please do not try to arrive on the Sunday - this is seriously not recommended! (Yes, we may do this when we visit you - but we are hardy people!) Please give yourself at least another day to adjust to the timezone, or even longer, so you can enjoy your stay and fully participate in the conference.
Childcare
Unfortunately, the legal complexities associated with working-with-children legislation, accompanied by high costs for small-group childcare, mean that we are unable to offer childcare to participants in AFMC2024.
If childcare is important for your attendance, we ask that you try to make such arrangements in your home city.
We also draw your attention to the AFMS Return-to-Work Grants, listed on this website, which may be used to support childcare costs for the period of the conference.