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France issues first travel passes for unmarried couples separated by Covid-19

After weeks of delay, unmarried long-distance couples have begun reuniting in France.

France issues first travel passes for unmarried couples separated by Covid-19
Illustration photo: AFP

American Robert, 36, and French Élodie, 29, last week became the first long-distance couple to reunite in France after eight months of being separated by Covid-19 travel restrictions.

“I'm happy, it's been so long, we needed to be together,” Robert told French media when he arrived at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport north of Paris.

France, along with the rest of the EU, effectively closed its borders in early March to all but essential travel in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

To this date, even after the EU somewhat slackened travel restrictions for those coming in from its external borders, travellers from a long list of countries – such as the US, India and Brazil – are still barred.

France allowed French residents to return along with travel for “imperative family reasons”, but these did not cover unmarried couples in long-distance relationships who simply wanted to reunite.

READ ALSO Who can travel to France from the USA?

France only recognises couples as such if they live together, are married or PACSed (a civil partnership or pacte civil de solidarité). 

Unmarried couples have long complained that they are treated as second-class couples due to their lack of official documents “proving” their relationship's validity.

The group #LoveIsNotTourism campaigned for months to push France to make good on their promise to let unmarried couples reunite in France, after France's Secretary of State in charge of tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, tweeted in early August: “This virus does not like love, we do!”

READ ALSO: France's failure to act leaves long-distance lovers 'heartbroken'

Lemoyne promised the government was setting up a process that would allow partners separated due to Covid-19 to reunite. 

Initially, the line went that all long-distance couples where one person lives in France and the other person in a non-EU country would be eligible to apply for the laissez-passer (travel pass), the government said.

But according to the procedure set up on September 21st 2020, only couples of one French national are eligible to apply for the free pass. No mechanism has been set up for non-French couples where one person resides in France.

According to the rules on the French consulate in Boston, couples applying for the pass must prove:

  • That their relationship began at least six months before the borders closed, so no later than September 2019.
  • That they have previously been to France and that the main reason for their visit was that they were visiting their partner (which excludes professional reasons or other long-term projects).

They also 

Love Is Not Tourism – which also had been lobbying French political representatives for weeks – took to the streets of Paris to protest the delay in issuing the travel passes.

 

Now, the ball seems to be rolling and Robert and Élodie just the first of several couples that will be able to reunite in France.

The French consulate in Buenos Aires tweeted on September 30th that they had received their for two travel passes for binational couples aiming to reunite in France.

 

Member of the French Senate Joëlle Garriaud-Mayland responded to a Twitter user who confirmed having received the first travel pass issued in the Maghreb, saying: “So happy for you two! You see now that you didn't have to despair.. All the rest of the couples in the same situation should be able to reunite soon,” she wrote.

 

 

The tourism secretary previously confirmed to The Local that there would be no differentiation between heterosexual couples and LGTBIQ couples in the process to issue travel passes. 

 

 

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

How Paris’s Olympic carpool lanes will work 

Throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games periods, some 185km of lanes on roads around Paris will be reserved for event-related traffic – here’s what you need to know.

How Paris’s Olympic carpool lanes will work 

Between July 15th and September 11th, ‘Olympic lanes’ will be in use along certain stretches of key roads in and around Paris.

These lanes will be reserved for use by accredited vehicles to transport athletes, accredited journalists and official delegations, as well as emergency and security vehicles, cabs, ambulances and public transport.

READ ALSO Apps, reservations and flying taxis: What to know before visiting Paris this summer

The lanes will be activated on July 15, on the following roads:

  • A1 between Roissy Charles de Gaulle and Porte de la Chapelle, until September 11th;
  • A4 between Collégien and Porte de Bercy until August 13th, then from August 30th to September 8th;
  • A12 between Rocquencourt and Montigny le Bretonneux until August 13th, and again from August 27th to September 8th;
  • A13 between Porte Maillot and Rocquencourt until August 13th, then from August 27th to September 8th;
  • Boulevard périphérique, from Porte de Vanves to Porte de Bercy, via the north until August 13th, then from August 22th to September 11th;
  • Boulevard Circulaire (La Défense) until August 13th, then from August 22nd to September 11th;
  • Lanes on certain routes in Paris.

None of these roads will be closed – lanes along these routes that are not reserved for Olympic or Paralympic Games traffic are open to road users as usual.

The lanes in question will be signposted – signs, clearly marked with the words “Paris 2024”, will be in place from July 1st, and will be removed by the end of the day on September 15h. 

READ ALSO How to use Paris public transport during the Olympics

Who can use dedicated Olympic lanes?

Only vehicles and road users that have been properly accredited by the Organising Committee of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games can travel along these lanes during the periods indicated above. 

They include:

  • vehicles of accredited persons;
  • cabs;
  • public transport vehicles;
  • vehicles designed to facilitate the transport of people with reduced mobility;
  • and emergency and security vehicles.

READ ALSO Who needs a QR code to get around Paris during the Olympics

All other vehicles are prohibited from using these lanes throughout the Olympic Games period. Any vehicle circulating on an Olympic lane without having received prior authorisation is liable to a fine of €135 and possible further prosecution.

Road users without Olympic accreditation are advised to be aware of possible travel issues, as more vehicles are filtered into the other lanes. Therefore it would be wise to allow a little extra time for your journey if you are using one of the listed roads during the Games period.

An interactive map, showing routes with Olympic lanes is available here

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