Travel in France

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@davidof, just curious about my next visit and that graphic seemed a helpful summary, but I wanted to check it was accurate as spotting stuff on social media is not always the best place to get info.

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So Light at the end of the Tunnel?

From The Telegraph

Boris Johnson steps in to save holidays on the Continent
Reprieve for popular destinations as plans for controversial new amber watchlist are shelved following backlash

Summer holiday plans have received a major boost after Boris Johnson blocked the creation of a controversial new amber watchlist for foreign countries.

The extra category in the Government's travel traffic light system would have left popular holiday destinations under threat of imminently turning red, forcing travellers into hotel quarantine on their return even if fully vaccinated.

Mr Johnson's decision which came as he pledged to keep travel rules as simple as possible allows millions of people planning to get away to Europe to avoid new complications.

Spain, Greece and France had been rumoured to have faced being added to the watchlist, but now travellers heading to those destinations can now do so without the threat of being recategorised as red hanging over them.

However, on Monday night there were fresh calls from senior Tory MPs and industry leaders for Mr Johnson to go further and ditch the green-amber-red system entirely, replacing it with a single red list.

It comes as 21,952 new Covid cases were registered in the UK the lowest figure in almost five weeks meaning that, a fortnight after the final step of reopening in England, the number of daily cases is still falling.

Asked about the travel rules on Monday, Mr Johnson said: "I understand how much people plan, prepare, for the summer holidays. But we have also got to remember this is still a dangerous virus and we must try to stop variants coming in, must stop importing variants from abroad, so we have to have a balanced approach.

"What I want to see is something that is as simple and as user-friendly for people as possible."

Under the current rules, foreign countries are divided into green, amber or red categories. Travellers returning from green countries do not have to quarantine but must take a Covid test on return.

The same is true for double-jabbed travellers returning from amber countries, but for red countries, all travellers must quarantine for 10 days in government-selected hotels at a cost of £1,750 for an adult.

Last week, ministers signed off plans to create an "amber watchlist" for countries at risk of imminently turning red but the plans triggered a backlash from Tory MPs and the travel industry, with warnings that holiday plans for countries on the list would be cancelled, with travellers unwilling to take the risk.

A Downing Street source said Mr Johnson's intervention on Monday could be taken as confirmation that he had scrapped plans for a watchlist.

The decision came after Tory MPs bombarded Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, and other ministers involved with calls and messages making their disquiet clear. One who talked to Mr Shapps told The Telegraph of the rules before the about-turn: "This is genuinely vote-losing stuff. People are genuinely pissed off with all this."

More key decisions on travel will be made this week after Britain reopened to the world on Monday by allowing fully vaccinated travellers from the US and EU to visit without quarantining.

New green, amber and red lists will be announced expected to come on Thursday, though that date has yet to be set in stone after ministers have looked at the latest Covid data.

France is expected to be removed from the amber plus list, a recently created category requiring all travellers, even if double-jabbed, to quarantine upon returning home.

Its inclusion sparked a furious reaction in Paris following claims the decision was based on levels of the beta variant on the island of La Reunion rather than in mainland France.

Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the French transport minister, said the decision was based on questionable science and urged Mr Johnson to reverse course. Clement Beaune, the country's junior minister for EU affairs, said the restrictions were "a little bit political" and discriminatory.

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Re. the U-turn on 'watchlist' status: I find it all a little contradictory, on the part of both the Government and the public. Isn't this a return to the situation where a country can suddenly flip from green to amber, or amber to red - which was something I thought a lot of the public and press were complaining about in the first place? Those 'in the know' like travel journalists will not be surprised: with lobby briefings and off-the-record conversations indicating a change in status. But busy people boking trips around work or school breaks won't know, and it'll be back to 'they knew the risks (even 'though they actually didn't), so they can't complain.' and people left with having to return home early at great expense, or being stranded abroad, or having to pay for hotel quarantine on return to the UK. I don't see how it does anything to encourage a return to international travel for businesses and holidaymakers.

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After all it is free

I have also been really grateful for those reporting back here about enforcement of pass sanitaire. We have booked a hotel for the drive down, the hotel has indicated they will also be checking it on check in (possibly as they have onsite restaurant and pool) so I am hoping the paper NHS version will be ok on the day! They seem ok with it but hopefully nothing has been lost in translation.
There is quite a bit of feedback from Americans in Paris that I have read on trip advisor; I think generally tourists are getting by for the most part and there is a developing understanding that tourists from outside the EU Crying or Very sad

are having this issue with the app.

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Would certainly be useful to get some on the ground reports - I added my NHS App QR codes into the #tousanticovid and it gave me the thumbs up and generated a QR code in the app, so assume that it should work.

Not that I'll get a chance to use it mind as we cancelled all our French bookings as wanted as much certainty as possible about going somewhere - sods law France will be moved back to Green List now

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Just tried TousAntiCovid Verif and it didn’t work on my NHS QR code which I had scanned in. Picks up name & dob but doesn’t give a green tick.

Planning to travel on 17 August and access to a few bars and restaurants is on the plan!

You know it makes sense.

Eurotunnel outbound Ashford>Calais (fully-vaccinated):

Logging-in today to complete details for our trip on 10th, it seems there is no longer a requirement to pre-upload the NHS Vaccination Certificate and Déclaration sur l'honneur to the outbound Eurotunnel Booking. We still have to have these certificates to hand to present if requested on the day.

The return is as before re the fully-vaccinated: to pre-upload 1. a negative test certificate and 2. the UK Passenger Locator Form (which will reference the 2/8 day booked test). But not the vaccination certificate, oddly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

@Skimum1, we stayed on the way back to Calais Sunday night. The hotel had warned us a fortnight before that they would need to see our double jab certificate on return. We said yes of course. But nothing was mentioned on the 1st.

A snowHead

Ok, apologies as i'm sure all this info is in this thread, I just haven't been following the situation.

As of last weekend my girlfriend did a bit of a U turn re summer holidays, and now abroad is on the cards. We're travelling in the campervan avec le chien.

We need France to come off the amber + list in order to come over as she can't isolate for 10 days when coming back, but we will both be double jabbed. My 2nd jab is August 4th, and we plan to travel most likely on August 18th, which ties in with being 14 days after the 2nd jab. She's double jabbed since about April time.

We will have proof of jabs via the NHS app, so that should cover us, and from what i'm reading there's a French app we will need to use which should be able to link up to the NHS app albeit there might be some teething issues with this?

Is there anything else we need to know? Wearing masks in places by the sounds of things? No we need a negative test before entering France, or because we're double jabbed it's no problem?

I think we also need a negative test on the way back, plus a day 2 test?

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For someone fully-vaccinated +7 Days for the OUTBOUND TRIP
For each person do the following.

This assumes you have downloaded the NHS App (not the NHS COvid-19 App) and the French TousAntiCovid app. If you're travelling on Eurotunnel, you'll also find it useful to have downloaded their app as well.

{A} Generate and print the NHS Covid Vaccination Certificate

1. Go to the NHS App (not the NHS Covid App) and login
2. Select 'Get your NHS COVID Pass
3. Select CONTINUE
4. Select Travel
5a. Select the green 'COVID-19 records found Show Details >'
5b. Check that both your certificates are there (slide right for the second certificate) [1]
5c. Go to the top of the screen and select '<Go back' [2]
6. Select 'receive an offline copy by email' and select/replace the email address you want then Select the green 'Confirm and send email'
7. After a few minutes the PDF version will arrive in your email inbox [3]
8. Print the PDF version off as a backup

[1] Sometimes you need to try more than once if there's a glitch.
[2] Sometimes it doesn't go back and you need to restart the process.
[3] Sometimes the email just doesn't arrive. You need to try again later.

{B} Register the NHS QR codes with the French TousAntiCovid App

1. Run the French TousAntiCovid App
2. Make sure it's activated
3. Get the NHS paper copy above and place the camera above the first vaccination QR Code
4. Select 'Scan a QR Code'
5. Repeat for the second Vaccination QR Code
6. Check the 'Health Pass' contains the two NHS passes.
7. Might as well print off a paper copy of the TousAntiCovid QR Code as a backup

{C} Get and complete The French Interior Ministry Déclaration sur l'Honneur

This is the official paper form where you declare that you don't have any symptoms etc.

1. There's an English version at the Eurotunnel page HERE.
2. Complete it for each person travelling.

{D} There are various other documents you'll need related to your vehicle

▪ V5C
▪ Green Card from your vehicle insurer (free)
▪ Certificate of Insurance (not actually needed for France but might as well carry it)
▪ GB (or post 28.9.21, 'UK') Sticker in approved format (black roman 'GB' ('UK') on white background at least 7x5" OR a number plate with 'GB' (/'UK') in the yellow stripe on the left (not ENG or EU).
ADDENDUM: French Crit'Air Certificate from HERE (beware pseudo-official intermediary sites) one-off €3.75 sticker for city clean-air zones

{E} And other stuff

The new GHIC card to replace the EHIC
Travel Insurance - EHIC and GHIC won't cover repatriation or convalescence costs etc.

{F} Eurotunnel

▪ Before you travel: Covid Declaration - In with the API (Advanced Passenger Information) - tick the box that says you are vaccinated.
▪ Checkin: Eurotunnel Boarding Pass with embedded QR code (not sure what ferries do) which is emailed to you 48h before travel.
▪ Checkin: The Credit Card you used to make the booking.

For the RETURN leg

Go to the Eurotunnel site and this will tell you everything you need to have. Principally the negative PCR or Antigen test certificate done abroad, and the reference for the 2/8-day tests on return. You must have booked this before you return as the reference goes onto the online Passenger Locator Form you must complete before boarding. For Eurotunnel, you have to upload both these documents along with the passenger information before you arrive at Coquelles. I'm not sure what the arrangements are if you're travelling by ferry.

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Been to another couple of places, and tried the TousAntiCovid app, still doesn't scan, but the people on the receptions seem to know what's coming with us being from the UK, so let us in without any issues. Hopefully the more people use the system, the more it'll be understood that they're not compatible, at the moment..

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@LaForet, I thought I had read that a Green Card for insurance was no longer needed.

But thanks for the full description. Very useful for when we travel but at the moment we are hoping the expensive PCR requirement will go away if we wait till the autumn, but obviously no one can tell.

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I didnt think the car green card insurance was now needed either

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47459859

But do bear in mind your UK car insurance may not cover you to the same extent when you take it into Europe so you may be given the option to by your insurer to pay more to bring up the cover level to your UK policy level.

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@swskier, "Is there anything else we need to know?". If France comes off the Amber-plus list, but remains Amber, it could still go back to Amber-plus or even Red while you are away, and the non-introduction of the Amber watch-list means you would only get a few days notice of such a change. It may be a very low probability, but you have to be prepared to possibly either change your travel plans at short notice (to get back before it goes up, in competition with perhaps 000s of others), or do the compulsory, perhaps even hotel, quarantine.

After all it is free

There seems to be some ambiguity over whether the Green Card is required. My insurer advised that as it's a standard international format, it's better to present it in a recognised form as opposed to a UK's insurer's proprietary certificate. And they didn't charge anyway. Plus if you consider the circumstances under which you might be using it, something recognisable may just mean less hassle at the time.

If you are taking your car to Lichtenstein, then officially, you should also carry an ICMV as well as the V5C. The ICMV is the International Certificate for Motor Vehicles available from the DVLA. You download the DVLA form V1002/1 from their website, fill it out, scan and email it back to them, and you get the ICMV in the post to the address on your V5C. Expect around 5 working days turn-around.

Note the addendum above re the clean air certificate for your vehicle (Crit'Air). It's a one-off for the specific vehicle and only costs €3.75 and while the odds are low you'll ever need it, you might as well have one just in case. Not all zones are exclusively in city centres - some include autoroutes you may be transiting by, at the outer edge of a zone.

If you are travelling by ferry, then if France goes into the Red category, you may have the option to reschedule your return to be from Netherlands etc. So have a contingency plan for routeing home via Switzerland and/or Germany to the Netherlands in that event. And be aware that Switzerland, and I think Austria (and Germany?) require an autoroute vignette or similar to be purchased before you use the motorway.

And and - be aware that if you have a minor accident, there's a standard form used in France for two parties to exchange details if they decide not to call the police, called a Constat Amiable d'Accident Automobile. It's a 1-page, 2 sheet (top and underneath copy) form with two columns, one for each vehicle. If you are presented with this, then under section 14 (Mes observations) you should write 'without prejudice to liability' (what my insurer advises, anyway) to make sure it's not used later on as any sort of admission of fault.

@Pamski, @Gilly76, thank you for the reports regarding the TAC app, glad all has gone well for you Very Happy

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So fingers crossed for today's announcements for those of us thinking of returning to the UK etc then think it will be a mad rush for bookings etc, hopefully, Eurotunnel will increase capacity as will be a lot of Brits travelling to France.

And really has to be announced no later than this week when you think about it, as schools go back the first week of September so if they delay the announcement doesn't really leave that much time for Brit families to travel?

Then if we're here next week we'll find out about the app etc

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@Weathercam, I think it is now probably too late for us to change our plans again. We will have to sort our leave out again with work and then do the AHC stuff. I think J would probably rather keep the second week for the ski season too.

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@Hells Bells, you're not missing anything weather-wise, it really has not been good, many people saying one of the worse summers they can recall, and it's very very busy on the roads etc but once away from the more popular routes you can be all on your own.

OH ran from here up over Col de la Cucumelle yesterday and then down to Monetier for lunch behind the church, and had an encounter with a patou!

You know it makes sense.

@LaForet, and don't forget to pack a printer with you for all the necessary paperwork for the return trip Laughing

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@LaForet, thanks for the detailed response, very helpful.

@ecureuil, understand the risk of being abroad and things changing, one of the advantages to us being in the van is we can keep an eye on what's happening and then if needs be, pack up and drive home.

We aren't planning on booking anything until last minute, so essentially if France goes on to the normal amber list next week, that still gives us time to sort out everything. We've put a call in to the vet re the AHC, and I might get ahead of myself and get new number plates etc for the van, as if we don't use them this summer we will in future years.

A snowHead

@swskier, if you're in close proximity or can travel to Portsmouth then there is a company providing fast AHC at £99 - it's in the AHC thread if you've not seen it?

A snowHead

@swskier, you'll need UK not GB on your plates.....not sure what date that kicks in though

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@LaForet, you certainly do like ticking all the boxes Laughing

And as an aside in over 40 yrs of driving on the continent, I've never adjusted my headlights, put yellow film on, nor had a GB sticker, though I do have the sticker for driving around Grenoble as I'm often back and forth through there.

And just read this on the Telegraph site.....positive signs, though now could be tomorrow, nothing like going to the wire rolling eyes

Up to 15 countries, including Poland and Germany, could be added to the UK's green list tomorrow, while Spain looks set to remain amber.

This is according to predictions by travel consultancy CEO Paul Charles, who stated this morning: "10-15 countries [will be] added to the green list". He also reiterated ministers' comments that France "will be removed" from the 'amber plus' list.

Fears that Spain would be red-listed have also been allayed, as a Whitehall source claimed that increased restrictions would be "very unlikely".

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Well thanks all for the advice, seems as though le chien doesn't have, as far as we can tell, a rabies jab in the last 3 years, we've only had him from Dogs Trust since last June, and the vet has said there needs to be 21 days between vaccination and travel and as we're 2 weeks away from travel that's a no go.

If France moves to the regular Amber list in the next two weeks, we'll be even more disappointed!

After all it is free

Just tipped off by Twitter, my Tous Anti Covid app is now "Valide" when scanned... good news. I read that this is apparently now working for those with English and Welsh codes. Very Happy

PS huge thanks for the tip above about the crit'air sticker... had no idea!

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Travel in France

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