How tourists can use France's health passport to access museums, cafés and trains
A health pass is now required to access a wide range of sites in France including bars cafés, museums, tourist sites and coach or train travel - but how can tourists and visitors access the passport?
From Monday, August 9th, France has expanded its health passport scheme so that it is required in bars, cafés, restaurants (even if you are sitting outside), cinemas, museums, tourist sites, on long-distance train or bus travel and to visit hospitals or care homes. Find the full list of venues HERE.
In short, if you're in France you are probably going to need it.
What is the health passport?
The health passport can show one of three things - fully vaccinated status, a recent negative Covid test or recent recovery from Covid. You need to be able to prove one of these three things to access venues listed as requiring a health passport.
How does it work?
The passport is on the French Covid tracker app Tous Anti Covid. For people who were vaccinated in France this is pretty simple - you scan the QR code on your vaccination certificate into the app and that generates a code which you can use to access any location. For the full guide to how the app works, click HERE.
Likewise, people who got a Covid test in France can scan their result into the app, although the test result is only valid for 72 hours, so you will need to repeat this every few days if you want to rely on testing.
People who don't have a smartphone can show the paper version of their vaccination or testing certificates to gain access.
What about tourists and visitors?
But if you're only visiting France and had your vaccinations or tests in another country, things are a little more complicated.
The Tous Anti Covid app is available in the app store and works on non-French smartphones. If your phone settings are to English, the app will largely appear in English on your phone.
"Our objective is that from August 9th these tourists present on national soil can obtain passes along the same lines as French people living outside of France," French Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told France Inter on August 5th.
French citizens living abroad and their partners are now able to exchange proof of vaccination for a French certificate which can be scanned into the health pass. All they need to do is email proof of vaccination, ID, and proof they live abroad.
EU - If you had your vaccines or tests in the EU or Schengen zone, you should have a certificate with a QR code and thanks to the EU digital health pass scheme these can be recognised by venues in France.
UK - On August 4th, the French government confirmed that people vaccinated in England and Wales could upload their vaccination certificates to the French app, and that this was now compatible with the TousAntiCovid verif app used by venues to scan QR codes - find out how to do this HERE. From September 3rd, Scottish vaccination certificates are also compatible.
People vaccinated in Northern Ireland follow a different protocol - more HERE.
"Pass sanitaire" et vaccination au Royaume-Uni 🇬🇧
📢 Actuellement, les personnes vaccinées au Royaume-Uni peuvent présenter un certificat du NHS indiquant leur statut vaccinal complet à la place du "Pass sanitaire" au format numérique.
Info 👉🏼 https://t.co/D4UWB1qUXK pic.twitter.com/3MpUc8PkzP
— ConsulFranceLondres (@ConsulFranceUK) July 13, 2021
Non-EU - If your certificate comes from outside the EU, then things are a little more complicated as so far non-EU countries such as the USA and Canada are not aligned with the EU scheme.
However, there is now a protocol for people vaccinated outside the EU to get a French QR code that will allow them to use the app - more HERE.
Some pharmacies and vaccine centres are also willing to swap non-EU vaccine certificates for French ones with the correct code, although this service is not offered everywhere.
Children
Children under the age of 12 are exempt from the health passport requirement. For youngsters aged between 12 and 17 there is a 'period of tolerance' until September 30th, so under 18s won't need the health passport until that date. The extension is to give French teenagers a change to get vaccinated - vaccination has been open to under 18s since June, but many French kids are not yet fully vaccinated.
After September 30th, all over 12s will be required to show the health passport, so families travelling from countries that are not yet vaccinating children will need to bear in mind the testing requirements.
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From Monday, August 9th, France has expanded its health passport scheme so that it is required in bars, cafés, restaurants (even if you are sitting outside), cinemas, museums, tourist sites, on long-distance train or bus travel and to visit hospitals or care homes. Find the full list of venues HERE.
In short, if you're in France you are probably going to need it.
What is the health passport?
The health passport can show one of three things - fully vaccinated status, a recent negative Covid test or recent recovery from Covid. You need to be able to prove one of these three things to access venues listed as requiring a health passport.
How does it work?
The passport is on the French Covid tracker app Tous Anti Covid. For people who were vaccinated in France this is pretty simple - you scan the QR code on your vaccination certificate into the app and that generates a code which you can use to access any location. For the full guide to how the app works, click HERE.
Likewise, people who got a Covid test in France can scan their result into the app, although the test result is only valid for 72 hours, so you will need to repeat this every few days if you want to rely on testing.
People who don't have a smartphone can show the paper version of their vaccination or testing certificates to gain access.
What about tourists and visitors?
But if you're only visiting France and had your vaccinations or tests in another country, things are a little more complicated.
The Tous Anti Covid app is available in the app store and works on non-French smartphones. If your phone settings are to English, the app will largely appear in English on your phone.
"Our objective is that from August 9th these tourists present on national soil can obtain passes along the same lines as French people living outside of France," French Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told France Inter on August 5th.
French citizens living abroad and their partners are now able to exchange proof of vaccination for a French certificate which can be scanned into the health pass. All they need to do is email proof of vaccination, ID, and proof they live abroad.
EU - If you had your vaccines or tests in the EU or Schengen zone, you should have a certificate with a QR code and thanks to the EU digital health pass scheme these can be recognised by venues in France.
UK - On August 4th, the French government confirmed that people vaccinated in England and Wales could upload their vaccination certificates to the French app, and that this was now compatible with the TousAntiCovid verif app used by venues to scan QR codes - find out how to do this HERE. From September 3rd, Scottish vaccination certificates are also compatible.
People vaccinated in Northern Ireland follow a different protocol - more HERE.
"Pass sanitaire" et vaccination au Royaume-Uni 🇬🇧
— ConsulFranceLondres (@ConsulFranceUK) July 13, 2021
📢 Actuellement, les personnes vaccinées au Royaume-Uni peuvent présenter un certificat du NHS indiquant leur statut vaccinal complet à la place du "Pass sanitaire" au format numérique.
Info 👉🏼 https://t.co/D4UWB1qUXK pic.twitter.com/3MpUc8PkzP
Non-EU - If your certificate comes from outside the EU, then things are a little more complicated as so far non-EU countries such as the USA and Canada are not aligned with the EU scheme.
However, there is now a protocol for people vaccinated outside the EU to get a French QR code that will allow them to use the app - more HERE.
Some pharmacies and vaccine centres are also willing to swap non-EU vaccine certificates for French ones with the correct code, although this service is not offered everywhere.
Children
Children under the age of 12 are exempt from the health passport requirement. For youngsters aged between 12 and 17 there is a 'period of tolerance' until September 30th, so under 18s won't need the health passport until that date. The extension is to give French teenagers a change to get vaccinated - vaccination has been open to under 18s since June, but many French kids are not yet fully vaccinated.
After September 30th, all over 12s will be required to show the health passport, so families travelling from countries that are not yet vaccinating children will need to bear in mind the testing requirements.
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