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Revealed: How easy is it for tourists to access France’s health passport?

France has lifted travel restrictions from a large number of countries, meaning that holidays are now possible, but if you want to enjoy France's famous cafés, restaurants and tourist sites you will need a health passport. So just how easy is it for tourists to access these?

Revealed: How easy is it for tourists to access France's health passport?
Entry to many venues in France now requires a health passport. Photo: Christophe Simon/AFP

Since early August, France has required visitors to a range of venues including cafés, bars, museums and tourist sites to show a health passport in order to be granted entry. The passport can display one of three things – fully vaccinated status, recent recovery from Covid or a recent negative Covid test.

For those vaccinated in France access to the passport is easy – either via the TousAntiCovid app or through showing a paper vaccination or testing certificate.

READ ALSO A step-by-step guide to getting the French health passport

But what about tourists or visitors who were vaccinated in countries other than France?

We asked readers of The Local to share their experiences of accessing and using the health passport in France.

Health passport venues accept proof of vaccination or testing either on paper or through the French tracker app TousAntiCovid.

However, a paper certificate needs a QR code on it, so that it can be scanned by employees. Vaccination cards with no code cannot be used for this purpose, and although some venues have reportedly been happy to accept them, it does not fall under an officially accepted proof.

READ ALSO How can people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons use France’s health passport?

EU visitors

Since the beginning of July, France has been part of the EU digital passport scheme.

Slightly confusingly, the EU’s passport is not a separate document or a different app, it just means that countries within the EU have coordinated their vaccination codes so that a scanner in France can read the QR code on a vaccination certificate issued in Spain, Sweden or Italy.

The EU-wide scheme was originally targeted at travel, allowing vaccinated people to travel freely within the Bloc, but visitors who were vaccinated in an EU country reported that their codes worked with the French health passport.

As well as EU member states, the EU digital passport also includes Switzerland, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino and the Vatican.

None of our survey respondents who had been vaccinated in the EU or Schengen zone reported problems using the health passport.

Tony Edser, vaccinated in Sweden, said: “The Tous Anti Covid app was easily able to upload my official EU vaccination certificate via the QR code.”

Carsten Boerner, from Germany, added: “The German covpass was accepted.”

Employees of the Eiffel Tower check visitors’ health passports Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

Visitors from England and Wales

The UK is no longer in the EU, but France has agreed to recognise the vaccination codes used in the NHS app. This means the NHS vaccination certificate can be used for the French health passport simply through scanning in the QR code.

The vast majority of our survey respondents from England or Wales reported no issues with using the French app.

Sandra Colman is typical of many when she said: “I had no problems. I showed vaccination certificate at hotels and restaurants. After having a test before my return to UK, I showed the negative test result instead – both were acceptable.”

Simon Lewis added: “No problems once UK certificates loaded into French app. UK certificates having only a 30-day validity was a pain as had to get new certiicates from the NHS site and reload into French app. Otherwise all works fine.”

Anyone having difficulty uploading their English or Welsh certificate into the French app can read our troubleshooting guide here.

However, the NHS app is only used in England and Wales, meaning that people vaccinated in Scotland and Northern Ireland fall under the regime of ‘non-EU’ as outlined below.

Visitors from non-EU countries (including Scotland and Northern Ireland)

People vaccinated outside the EU have a more complicated journey to the health pass, since they cannot simply scan in codes from their vaccination certificate to the French app.

They need instead to acquire a French vaccination code and the route to obtaining this has changed several times in recent weeks.

First non-EU visitors were told to take their vaccination card to a pharmacy, who could issue them with a French code, then an email system was put in place where people emailed in copies of their vaccination documents and were sent back a French code.

An online portal for applications to obtain a French vaccine code has been set up and since August 27th it is accepting applications from non-French citizens – full details of how this works HERE.

Readers reported mixed success rates in using these systems, although many reported that their original vaccine cards were accepted at bars and restaurants without having to use the app.

Gary Mofield, who arrived from the USA, said: “My local pharmacy did it for me. It’s fabulous. No problems whatsoever, I use it everyday.”

Denise and Jim Macauley also for the code after arriving in France. They said: “We got it on our first day in Paris. We went to the Hôtel Dieu hospital near Notre Dame during regular business hours and they converted the code for us.”

Edwina Shulman said: “Got my passe sanitaire at the first pharmacy I went to – the pharmacie de la cathédrale in Nice. It took 10 minutes and was free. Used it in France and Italy with no problems.”

Not all pharmacies are able to issue French codes, and some have recently changed their policy on this, although others continue to issue codes to visitors even since the introduction of the new email system.

The email system, introduced in mid August, in intended to allow visitors to apply for their codes before arriving in France, to spare them a trip to the pharmacy.

But readers have reported mixed success with using it.

Please note that the system has changed since this article was written, so new applications will not use the email system described below.

People who applied soon after the launch often received their codes quickly, but in more recent days the system appears to be struggling to keep up, and many people have reported long waits to get their codes.

Tracey Anne Lesley, who was vaccinated in the United Arab Emirates, said: “I applied through the email address on august 10th with with tickets, passport, vaccine certificate etc but heard nothing since the original email acknowledgement.”

Claire Letham, who was vaccinated in Malaysia, had a similar experience, saying: “I sent through details to the email, there has been no response other than to say they have received my email.”

Kayanne Anderson, from the USA, said: “We applied for the pass by email on August 10th supplying correct documents and form. We have not received our passes though we did get an automatic acknowledgment of the receipt of our applications.”

However she added: “We have been successfully using only our printed CDC card in restaurants and on trains.”

Fellow American Katherine Ramsay reported a similar experience, saying: “My son and I separately emailed our documents to the consulate as directed on August 10th, but neither of us ever heard anything back other than a confirmation that they had received our emails.

“But we have not (yet?) had any problem using our CDC paper cards to eat in restaurants (other than at burger chain Quick – but even they let us take the food with us to eat outside) or to visit the places we want to go.”

Several visitors reported successfully using CDC cards, but readers should take note that this is not within the government rules, so bars and restaurants are not obliged to accept American vaccination cards.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

As with other non-EU visitors, those vaccinated in Scotland and Northern Ireland – who cannot use the NHS app – reported mixed results in converting their vaccine certificates.

Elizabeth Prosser, from Scotland said: “It was very easily obtained in a pharmacy in Nérac. Details were entered from our NHS Scotland vaccination certificates and all completed in 15 minutes.”

However Richard Robinson, also from Scotland, reported: “I tried the pharmacy but they said to come back when they’d figured out the system. So we followed The Local advice and emailed documentation to the government email address. Receipt confirmed 10 days ago but nothing since.”

Troubleshooting

The Local has contacted the foreign ministry to flag up issues using the email addresses for visitors from outside the EU, and asked for guidance for those who are still waiting for a reply.

But feedback from readers suggests that for those who are still waiting for a code on arrival in France, many pharmacies are still willing to provide French codes. You can find more detail on how to do this HERE.

The other option is to get a test while in France which can be used with the health pass – full details HERE

Many thanks to the several hundred readers who shared their experiences, we will update our Travelling to France section as soon as we have more information on the issues raised.

Member comments

  1. I am in the US and applied with all requested documents, application, passport, cdc card and plane tickets. Still no response.

  2. There were a couple links that came out for the application. The first one, for travel before September came with an email response noting application received please don’t apply again. My travel date changed to September, so I did apply again, this time using the link that does not give a date. For this separate link (all documents in a pdf) I did not receive a response.

  3. After 21 days, we have still not heard from the French government about our application. But the second pharmacy we visited here in Annecy, France did use our passports and CDC cards to generate two Pass Sanitaire for us. They have been much easier to use than the CDC cards. We appreciate the increased feeling of safety in restaurants and other venues requiring the pass sanitaire and wish the US would follow France’s example. Kyanne Andersen

  4. I requested the pass sanitaire on 12th of August through email, but I haven’t received anything except an automated email. I, somehow, manage in restaurant with my printed non European vaccination certificate. It’s really frustrating to wait for such a small thing.

  5. Before I left the USA, I applied online. I received an automatic email response after submitting my documentation, but never heard back from the system. : (
    Upon arrival in France, I went to 2 different pharmacies and 1 testing/vaccination center in the Loire Valley, each told me they could not provide a French certificate with QR code since I did not have a number in the French healthcare system. It is pure chaos…. welcome to France.

  6. Although it is irritating that the online process or other processes don’t work, don’t stress. Although I can’t speak to non US, I am guessing it will be the same for others. The restaurants and museums just need to confirm you are vaccinated or have a negative test. We have been here a week. We just show our passport and CDC card. No problem. So if you are vaccinated from the US no need for a test every three days.

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READER INSIGHTS

‘Flabbergasted and frightened’: Macron’s French election gamble leaves readers worried

As France prepares to vote in snap elections at the end of June, readers of The Local have voiced their concerns about the vote, as well as the possible ramifications for foreigners in France.

'Flabbergasted and frightened': Macron's French election gamble leaves readers worried

France will head back to the polls at the end of this month for snap parliamentary elections – called by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in the wake of his party’s humiliating European election defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN).

Voting in the election is only possible for French citizens, so many foreigners in France will have no say – and yet any change in government could have a big impact on their lives, especially any changes to the immigration system, which is a key priority for the RN.

READ MORE: What would a victory for Le Pen’s far-right party mean for France?

The Local reached out to readers to hear their thoughts on Macron’s unexpected decision.

Fear for the future

Multiple readers told The Local they were fearful, particularly about the possibility of the far right gaining ground in France.

An anonymous respondent wrote “I’m worried about France’s turn to the right”, and another said they were “worried Macron has enabled the return of fascism” and “concerned about the far right winning.”

One reader described their feelings as “Terrified! Alarmed and nervous that the far right will get in. That they will put their lot into Europe”, while another stated that their primary concern was “becoming unwelcome” in France.

“[The election] is a huge risk, with potentially monumental impacts on French both society and social programmes,” another respondent, Eric, said.

He added that his worry was “rise of nationalism and far right extremism has global implications beyond France.”

Morgane told The Local: “I’m a trans woman and I am truly afraid for my rights should the RN win enough seats in the Assemblée Nationale to have influence over the legislative process; I’ve seen what happened in the UK because of the Tories!”

READ MORE: Election news: 5-minute guide to the latest on France’s snap elections

Parallels with Brexit and the UK

She is not the only reader to have likened the political situation in France to that of the UK, several others was parallels with Brexit.

“I moved to France on account of Brexit because I didn’t like the right wing vibe. So it is alarming to think I may have come somewhere with far more serious political issues with right wing thinking,” one reader said.

Robert Wiggins told The Local: “I expect the RN and its allies will win, that will make the remainder of Macron’s term as President pretty difficult.

“My only other concern is that a victory for the far right will be seen as a green light for more overt racism towards immigrants and people of colour (much as the Brexit vote greenlighted this behaviour in the UK),” he said.

Another reader said: “The lies, racism and xenophobia of the far right become mainstream views and no one is able to counter them. Shades of the UK when the Brexit vote was driven on the back of opportunism, Nigel Farage’s scare tactics and a complacent David Cameron.”

Retirement plans

With mounting concerns about the growth of the far right, some respondents said the upcoming elections have left them wondering about how their lives in France will be affected.

One reader, Dini Martini, said “[this] puts a big question mark on whether to retire to France next year.”

While another reader was curious about “the potential impact on non-national second homeowners.”

Confusion around the ‘gamble’

As for the president’s choice to call snap elections in the first place, several readers were incredulous. 

Morgane said she was “flabbergasted”.

“I honestly expected the Rassemblement National to win the French part of the EU parliament elections (given the polls, but also given the growing anger in the country); but seeing our president react to this result by calling for snap parliamentary elections, with the real and quasi-immediate possibility of a far-right government coming into power after it, feels like a stab in the back,” she wrote.

Four readers called the decision a ‘gamble’.

Nick Dawson told The Local “Macron is taking a calculated gamble and believes that the FN will lose. He currently has a weak parliament and hopes to strengthen it. He could, of course, lose this gamble but it is unlikely.”

READ MORE: The 3 reasons that French presidents leave office early

While Robert Wiggins said “[calling new elections] was a foolish thing to do. Gambles like this have not paid off for any government in the recent past.”

As for Macron himself, he acknowledged the risks in his initial speech after announcing new elections.

“This decision is serious and heavy but it is an act of confidence. Confidence in you, dear compatriots, and in the capacity of the French people to make the best choice for itself and future generations,” the president said on Sunday.

Support for new elections

However, there were still some readers who did not find the situation to be concerning, including one anonymous reader who said the call for elections was not concerning, but rather an example of democracy.

Seb Rocco told The Local: “The French are left-leaning at heart. They always complain about their lot, but won’t let the right wing in.”

He said he was not worried, adding: “France is still a socialist country at heart. They just don’t realise it!”

Liz Watkins-Young told The Local: “Macron was right to call [the elections].” She said she was “not worried, but frustrated that the French centrist right and left parties seem incapable of creating a realistic alternative to the current Macron/Le Pen impasse.”

As for reader Kathy Gallagher, she said “Macron is challenging the French to step up to demonstrate republican values. The French will do that and RN will take a beating. Macron might be too egotistical, but he knows his people well.”

And finally Jim Lockard, told The Local: “President Macron is clearly taking a risk and the people of France get to speak.”

“I cannot vote in these elections, but I trust that the French people will not entrust significant power to the far right.”

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