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France toughens Covid entry rules for Ireland and other EU nations

As a fifth wave grips Europe, France has tightened entry rules for non-vaccinated visitors from a number of EU countries. Here is what you need to know.

Published: 15 November 2021 12:51 CET
A sign guides passengers to a Covid-19 testing center in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Non-vaccinated passengers seeking to enter France face tougher restrictions.
A sign guides passengers to a Covid-19 testing center in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Non-vaccinated passengers seeking to enter France face tougher restrictions. (Photo by Eric PIERMONT / AFP)

Non-vaccinated travellers wishing to enter France face an increasingly challenging restrictions, which came into effect on Saturday. 

Previously, non-vaccinated visitors travelling from within the EU had to present a negative PCR or antigen test taken within 72 hours of their departure to France.

Fully vaccinated arrivals do not need to take a test. 

Now this testing window has been shortened to 24 hours for non-vaccinated travellers from the following EU countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. 

The 24 hour rule was already in place for non-vaccinated arrivals from the UK, who also need to provide proof of ‘essential travel’ in order to enter France.

Testing requirements apply to all travellers aged 12 and over.

This rule does not apply in the following circumstances:

  • Lorry drivers and other long-distance drivers travelling for work
  • If you will be in France for less than 24 hours and will be going no further than 30 km from your permanent place of residence (ie people living close to the borders)
  • If you are in France on urgent professional business or on frequent business trips whereby it is impossible for you to take a test within the time window.

The rules for non-vaccinated travellers from other EU countries and the USA remain unchanged – at the border, they must present a negative PCR test carried out 72 hours before departure or a negative antigen test carried out within 48 hours before departure. 

READ ALSO Passport scans and €7 fee: What will change for EU travel in 2022

Rules for non-vaccinated travellers from the UK also remain the same: they must present a negative PCR or antigen test completed less than 24 hours before departure.  

Non-vaccinated visitors seeking to enter France must also sign a sworn statement declaring that they have no symptoms of Covid-19 and have not been in contact with anyone that has.

Those coming from amber list countries, including the UK and US, must also fill out a travel certificate, while an antigen test upon arrival (for those aged 11 or over), and a 7-day isolation period following arrival in France is requested (although not enforced by police).

READ ALSO Everything you need to know about travel between France and the USA

Vaccinated travellers

Vaccinated travellers from the EU and the UK need to prove that they have received a full course of shots of one of the recognised vaccines. They must also sign the health declaration stating that they have no Covid symptoms and have not been in contact with Covid cases – find the declaration here. 

Health pass

It is worth noting that the health pass in France applies to anyone over the age of 12 years and two months.

The health pass requires either proof of full vaccination, recent recovery from Covid or a negative Covid test less than 72 hours old and is mandatory for access to a range of venues including bars, cafés, restaurants, leisure centres, cinemas, tourist sites and long-distance train travel. 

Unvaccinated teenagers will therefore need to either take a test every 72 hours or face exclusion from health pass venues.

Travel rules can change quickly, so for all the latest, head to our Travelling to France section.

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TRAVEL NEWS

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

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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