LATEST: How visitors from outside the EU can access the French health pass
If you're planning a trip to France you will need the vaccine pass to access venues including bars, cafés and tourist sites, but getting this if you were vaccinated outside the EU, Schengen zone or UK can be complicated. Here's how it works.
The EU digital travel pass means that those vaccinated in EU countries have vaccination codes that are compatible with the French system, and the same is true of people vaccinated in a Schengen zone country or in the UK.
However visitors from outside the EU/Schengen/UK area need to obtain a European code before they can use the vaccine pass, and the process for doing this has changed several times.
The French government has now shut the online portal for this, and introduced a new system.
Here's how it works:
Who?
This applies to anyone who was vaccinated outside the EU. What passport you hold is largely irrelevant, although French citizens vaccinated outside the EU do have their own separate system.
In order to apply for the French code you must be
- Over the age of 12
- Fully vaccinated with either Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines
- You may also need a booster, depending on when you had your second vaccine dose - full details here
Those vaccinated with Sinopharm or Sinovac can get a French code if they have had a single top-up dose of either Pfizer or Moderna.
Those vaccinated with Sputnik or any other vaccines not recognised by the WHO need two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna before they are accepted as fully vaccinated in France.
Why?
Since January 24th 2022, the vaccine pass is compulsory to access a wide range of venues including bars, cafés, cinemas, tourist attractions, gyms, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres, museums, ski lifts and long-distance trains.
How?
Previously tourists and visitors were told to email or apply online in advance of their trip to get their code, but now codes can only be issued by pharmacies.
This means that tourists will have to wait until they have arrived in the country and then sort out the necessary code, which is available on a walk-in basis from pharmacies.
A vaccine certificate from your home country will be accepted at the border as proof of vaccinated status.
Not all pharmacies offer this service, visitors will have to go to a participating pharmacy and, as the map below shows, there are not many of these and they are heavily concentrated on cities, especially Paris.
You can find an interactive version of the map HERE to find the closest pharmacy to you.
Once at the pharmacy, you show your original paper vaccination certificate and your passport and the pharmacist will give you a QR code. The code can then be scanned into the French TousAntiCovid app and this creates the vaccine pass.
Find full details on how the vaccine pass works HERE.
Charles de Gaulle airport
If you are coming to France by air and you are flying into Charles de Gaulle airport, there is a pharmacy at the airport that offers this service.
It’s called Pharmacie Bonassoli, but it does not operate 24/7.
How much?
Previously the swapping service was free, but now pharmacists can charge up to a maximum fee of €36.
Why the change?
The process for tourists and visitors from outside the EU to get the necessary code has never really worked very well, and The Local has received dozens of emails from people who were unable to get the code, or who waited weeks for their application to be processed, leaving them without a pass on their holidays.
Most of the rollout of the health pass and then vaccine pass has gone very (some might say surprisingly) smoothly, but this area has definitely been a weak spot.
The most recent system was an online application form, but many people reported that it took weeks to get their code so it was probably understaffed.
By moving the task back to pharmacies the government has at least provided a service that is accessible on a walk-in basis.
French vocab
Pass sanitaire – health passport
Attestation de vaccination étranger or Certificat de vaccination étranger – Foreign (ie non-EU) vaccination certificate
Code QR (pronounced coo-aire) – QR code
Conversion de certificats de vaccination étrangers en format européen – Conversion of foreign vaccination certificates into a European format (this is the formal name for this service, so look out for pharmacies offering this)
Bonjour, pouvez-vous tranformer mon certificat de vaccination étranger en un QR code français pour le pass sanitaire ? – Hello, can you swap my foreign vaccination certificate for a French QR code for the health pass?
See Also
The EU digital travel pass means that those vaccinated in EU countries have vaccination codes that are compatible with the French system, and the same is true of people vaccinated in a Schengen zone country or in the UK.
However visitors from outside the EU/Schengen/UK area need to obtain a European code before they can use the vaccine pass, and the process for doing this has changed several times.
The French government has now shut the online portal for this, and introduced a new system.
Here's how it works:
Who?
This applies to anyone who was vaccinated outside the EU. What passport you hold is largely irrelevant, although French citizens vaccinated outside the EU do have their own separate system.
In order to apply for the French code you must be
- Over the age of 12
- Fully vaccinated with either Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines
- You may also need a booster, depending on when you had your second vaccine dose - full details here
Those vaccinated with Sinopharm or Sinovac can get a French code if they have had a single top-up dose of either Pfizer or Moderna.
Those vaccinated with Sputnik or any other vaccines not recognised by the WHO need two doses of either Pfizer or Moderna before they are accepted as fully vaccinated in France.
Why?
Since January 24th 2022, the vaccine pass is compulsory to access a wide range of venues including bars, cafés, cinemas, tourist attractions, gyms, leisure centres, cinemas, theatres, museums, ski lifts and long-distance trains.
How?
Previously tourists and visitors were told to email or apply online in advance of their trip to get their code, but now codes can only be issued by pharmacies.
This means that tourists will have to wait until they have arrived in the country and then sort out the necessary code, which is available on a walk-in basis from pharmacies.
A vaccine certificate from your home country will be accepted at the border as proof of vaccinated status.
Not all pharmacies offer this service, visitors will have to go to a participating pharmacy and, as the map below shows, there are not many of these and they are heavily concentrated on cities, especially Paris.
You can find an interactive version of the map HERE to find the closest pharmacy to you.
Once at the pharmacy, you show your original paper vaccination certificate and your passport and the pharmacist will give you a QR code. The code can then be scanned into the French TousAntiCovid app and this creates the vaccine pass.
Find full details on how the vaccine pass works HERE.
Charles de Gaulle airport
If you are coming to France by air and you are flying into Charles de Gaulle airport, there is a pharmacy at the airport that offers this service.
It’s called Pharmacie Bonassoli, but it does not operate 24/7.
How much?
Previously the swapping service was free, but now pharmacists can charge up to a maximum fee of €36.
Why the change?
The process for tourists and visitors from outside the EU to get the necessary code has never really worked very well, and The Local has received dozens of emails from people who were unable to get the code, or who waited weeks for their application to be processed, leaving them without a pass on their holidays.
Most of the rollout of the health pass and then vaccine pass has gone very (some might say surprisingly) smoothly, but this area has definitely been a weak spot.
The most recent system was an online application form, but many people reported that it took weeks to get their code so it was probably understaffed.
By moving the task back to pharmacies the government has at least provided a service that is accessible on a walk-in basis.
French vocab
Pass sanitaire – health passport
Attestation de vaccination étranger or Certificat de vaccination étranger – Foreign (ie non-EU) vaccination certificate
Code QR (pronounced coo-aire) – QR code
Conversion de certificats de vaccination étrangers en format européen – Conversion of foreign vaccination certificates into a European format (this is the formal name for this service, so look out for pharmacies offering this)
Bonjour, pouvez-vous tranformer mon certificat de vaccination étranger en un QR code français pour le pass sanitaire ? – Hello, can you swap my foreign vaccination certificate for a French QR code for the health pass?
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