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BRITS IN FRANCE

Do Brits living in France still have to quarantine on trips to UK?

The British government on Thursday announced a relaxation of its quarantine rules for fully vaccinated travellers - but not for Brits who live abroad.

Published: 8 July 2021 14:04 CEST
Updated: 11 July 2021 12:15 CEST
Do Brits living in France still have to quarantine on trips to UK?
Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Thursday that, from July 19th, Brits visiting amber list countries such as France would no longer have to quarantine on arrival back in the UK, as long as they were fully vaccinated.

However this exemption is not extended to the majority of UK nationals who live in France – who will still have to quarantine when visiting friends or family in the UK, even if they are fully vaccinated.

Shapps said the exemption was for “residents returning to England” but speaking on Sky News on Friday morning, he said he hoped to be able to have news to announced on whether the UK can recognise people vaccinated in other countries “within the next couple of weeks”.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “From July 19th, arrivals who have been fully vaccinated with an NHS administered vaccine in the UK (plus 14 days), or are on a formally approved UK vaccine clinical trial, returning to England from amber list counties will no longer need to quarantine.

“Passengers will need to provide proof of their vaccination status to carriers in advance of travel.” 

This means that any UK nationals living in France who had their jabs in the UK can travel quarantine free – but the majority who had their vaccines in France will still face a 10-day quarantine if they want to travel to the UK to visit friends and family, as well as paying around £160 for the compulsory day 2 and 8 travel testing package.

The announcement sparked fury among UK nationals living abroad, many of whom have not seen family for 18 months as they cannot afford expensive travel testing packages as well as taking an extra 10 days off work to quarantine.

The citizens’ rights group British in Europe has written to Shapps to ask for the reasoning behind the “epidemiologically illiterate” exclusion of people vaccinated outside the UK.

Under 18s do not need to quarantine.

Arrivals in the UK who were fully vaccinated by the NHS will still need a negative Covid test before departure, and will have to pay for a second test on day 2 after their arrival in the UK. 

The UK government will also from July 19th withdraw its official advice against travel to France – which means getting travel insurance should be possible again.

From France to UK

People travelling from the UK to France can only travel for essential reasons if they are not fully vaccinated.

People who are fully vaccinated can travel for any reason, but need to show a negative Covid test at the border. However, this does not include people who received AstraZeneca’s Indian-produced Covishield vaccine.

READ ALSO How does France’s traffic light system for travel work?

EU vaccine passport

People vaccinated in France can travel anywhere within the EU or Schegen zone using the EU digital vaccine passport. The UK is not part of the scheme, but talks are ongoing to allow non-EU countries such as the UK and USA join for mutual recognition of vaccine passports.

An EU source told The Local: “When it comes to the UK, the talks are ongoing at the technical level and are progressing well and going in the right direction.

“This is in particular because technically speaking the EU’s and the UK’s architectures are aligned.  

“On the US, the EU continues exchanges with the US on the use of (vaccination) certificates to facilitate travel. We are also following closely how the debate on the certificates evolves in the US.”

Although the French system cannot read QR codes from the NHS app, travellers vaccinated in the UK can present paper or digital vaccination certificates at the border to prove their vaccinated status.

Member comments

  2. Stupid and inexplicable decision. A UK citizen vaccinated in the UK can go on holiday to a Covid infested place in Europe then go back to the UK and skip the quarantine. A UK citizen resident and vaccinated in France, living in a place with almost no COVID has to pay the tests and spend one week locked up. Where’s the logic?

  4. Ridiculous rules. Most of our vaccines come from Europe. Having not seen my husband for 6 months and with a major op coming up this ruling is adding more stress on such a tricky time. Hopefully the government will get their act together fast

  5. This makes me so cross ! I have spent an absolute fortune on those test kits and it seems like there is no end in sight even though I am fully vaccinated! Ridiculous 😡

  6. This makes me so cross ! I have spent an absolute fortune on those test kits and it seems like there is no end in sight even though I am fully vaccinated! Ridiculous !

  7. So if it’s a ten day quarantine in the UK I’m assuming you can’t return to the ferry port to return to France until day 11?

    1. Guy Denning (sometimes the “reply to” doesn’t work)
      Yes, you can. It’s on the gov website. Along the same lines, if you have a UK test in order to go to France for example, if you are only there a couple of days you can use that same test, ie within 72 hours, as a pre-travel test to return to the UK.
      Actually the “within 72 hours” (PCR test) is misleading because the gov.uk site clearly shows it as up to 3 days before your travel day & gives example: if your travel day is Friday you can take your test Tues , Wed, Thurs.

  8. I have not seen my 90 year old mother in England for 18 months and cannot understand why I have to quarantine for 10 days when double jabbed. My question is : if I am in quarantine after a negative test on the day of travel From France why do I have to pay for 2 private tests? This is pure prejudice and politics
    and I can scarcely withhold my rage and fury at the ******* Tories. Shame on you.

  9. I live in a small quiet French hamlet, am double jabbed with the European vaccine, I am very careful when I go shopping, when (rarely) visiting friends observe all the Covid 19 regulations and precautions, have to self isolate for 10 days if I fly back to the UK.
    A lout football supporter can fly to Europe, go to a crowded beach, visit a crowded pub or club, then fly back to the UK and not have to self isolate…………Ludicrous !

  10. How do they verify the vaccinations? The USA is planning to be part of the EU vaccine passport sceme, but perhaps it would be viewed as insufficiently brexity for the UK to join it? Secondly, it would be discriminatory to allow Brits into the UK from France but not the French.
    I don’t see what France (as well as the UK) is doing, in refusing to allow people with the Indian Astra-Zeneca jab to come to France, as any different. It’s all about keeping out Johnie Foreigner, especially if he has a brown skin!
    P.S. Have just been to the UK, done the quarantine and spent the fortune on all the tests — it’s not 10 days of quarantine, it’s 11! The first day is called Day 0!!!

    1. I’ve just done 12 as the testing company took 3 days to process my Day 8 test, which was negative, of course (we’re double jabbed).
      It makes me mad how we’re treated by the UK. The same tests, taken privately in France, cost just Euro 10 each, can be administered by our local nurse, and be uploaded and recognised so smoothly on the French government App. And test results are processed much quicker. All this is just money for Boris’ Boys. I’ve travelled to UK for my daughter’s wedding. I’ve changed the ticket to return back to France asap afterwards, rather than linger in Covid central.

      1. Sorry about your testing company, mine was prompt. I think they’re not the same tests, if sent to a lab, as pre-travel administered by the French nurse. (At the stage I travelled the pre-departure one could be either).I think day 2 & 8 have to be PCR tests, whereas I had a pret-travel antigen test done by the local nurse which is speedily read like a pregnancy test. Then days 2 & 8 were PCR. It certainly is profiteering though, like so much of what’s gone on with PPE.

  11. I suppose I should be surprised about this nonsense decision. Brits who have had their two jabs in England can return to England without having to quarantine. This Brit who lives in France and has had the SAME two jabs – but in France, cannot! A 6 year-old can understand the absurdity! However the Front Bench is incapable of comprehending. Congratulations to all those who voted for this absurd lot to govern the U.K.!

  12. I fully agree with the comments calling out the absolute absurdity of this situation. It makes no common or medical sense whatsoever. I just travelled to France from the UK and had no problems entering France even though I had one jab in the UK and another in the USA where I am also resident. At least the French Government are using common sense in their approach and I applaud them. The UK Government needs to be called to account and I intend to write my MP about this.

    1. I wish you luck Gary but they don’t answer to anyone except their own self interests, or the back benchers they want to placate. They won’t answer direct questions at PMQs, they won’t allow the tougher journalists to ask a Q at the briefings. BJ won’t go on the Today programme (yet huge numbers of people criticise the BBC for not being critical enough). They are masters of deceit and deception. They push training for jobs ahead of critical thinking in education. They got elected on slogans & prejudice & they are still popular. They make the sort of ridiculous decisions that a bunch of headless chickens would make but smooth talk their way out of it every time. I really hope you have a decent MP.

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EES PASSPORT CHECKS

EES border checks could undergo ‘soft launch’, UK says as app concerns mount

The UK government is preparing for a "soft launch" of the new EU border system – the Entry/Exit (EES) system - in October but authorities are still waiting for European Commission to confirm the start date, amid concerns over the delay of a new app.

Published: 4 May 2024 09:30 CEST
EES border checks could undergo 'soft launch', UK says as app concerns mount

The UK government is preparing for a soft launch of the new EU border system – the entry/exit (EES) system – on the assumption that it will go live on October 6th, ministers told a hearing at the House of Commons European scrutiny committee this week.

But the European Commission is expected to confirm the exact launch date of the new biometric checks for non-EU travellers entering the Schengen area at some point this summer, they added.

“We are very much working on a basis whereby this policy will go live on the 6th of October. It is important that we plan for that eventuality. We are expecting to hear definitively from the European Union that ‘go live’ arrangement in the summer,” Tom Pursglove, UK Minister for Legal Migration and the Border told the committee.

The parliamentary committee is conducting an inquiry on the disruptions the system will cause in the UK.

Pursglove also said that “precautionary measures” have been agreed by the EU, that will be put in place in certain circumstances after the start of EES, for example if delays at the borders exceeded a certain length of time.

Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, said that in practice this meant a “soft launch” of EES for 6 months before “a full go live”. During that soft launch EU member states and the UK could deploy flexibility measures should problems occur.

“The likelihood is, after multiple delays, that the 6th of October will proceed” and the implementation looks “very different” compared to previous scenarios considering the flexibility allowed in the first 6 months, he argued.

No details were given on what these “flexible” measures would involve however. 

READ ALSO: Your questions answered about Europe’s EES passport checks

He conceded that “a lot of work” still needs to be done but the UK “should be as ready as everybody” and “better be at front of the queue”.

App not ready

During the meeting, it also emerged that a much-anticipated app that would allow remote pre-registration of non-EU citizens subject to the checks will not be available for testing until August “at best”, prompting concerns about the EES launch date.

“You don’t need to be a sceptic about future projects to think that the provision of the app in August for going live in October is optimistic,” Opperman said.

Ministers confirmed that the app will not be ready in time for October and the committee previously stated it might be delayed until summer 2025.

The app will facilitate pre-registration, but photo and fingerprints will still have to be taken at the border in front of a guard, the committee heard.

READ ALSO: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Several MPs asked whether the entry into operation of the EES should be delayed again if technology is not ready. But Under-Secretary Opperman said the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

The main aim of EES is to increase security and to ensure that non-EU nationals visiting the Schengen area for a short-term do not stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

The entry into operation of the system has already been delayed several times and there have been calls from certain travel companies and national authorities to delay it again.

Under the new scheme, non-EU/EFTA travellers who do not need a visa will have to register their biometric data (finger prints and facial images) in a database that will also record each time they enter and exit the Schengen area.

Instead of having passports manually stamped, travellers will have to scan them at self-service kiosks before crossing the border. However, fingerprints and a photo will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing and there are concerns the extra time needed will generate long queues, especially in Dover, Folkestone and St. Pancras station in London, where there are juxtaposed French and UK border checks.

Progress in preparations

Minister Pursglove also updated MPs on ongoing preparations. He said some testing of the system will take place within days, 5 kiosks have been installed at St. Pancras station and are available for testing. “You are beginning to see the physical infrastructure appear,” he said.

Kiosks and extra lanes are also being created at the port Dover and it was agreed with the EU passengers travelling by coach will be checked away from the Eastern dock, where controls usually take place, allowing to gain space. The vehicles will then sealed and drive on the ferries.

MPs also discussed the infrastructure cost linked to the introduction of the EES. Opperman said all EU countries will have to make “huge investments” in their ports. In the UK, he argued, this will help “address problems that have existed for some time”. Because of this “massive investment”, in a few years time “Dover will be totally transformed,” he said.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

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