All non-European persons aged 12 or over entering France are now required to present the results of a negative COVID-19 (antigen or PCR) carried out less than 24 or 48 hours prior to departure. The measures come as the nation fights a fifth wave of the virus and has tightened social distancing measures, but resisted another lockdown.

On Monday, the US CDC raised its classification of France to level 4 – very high, and advised against travel for American citizens (as well as to Jordan, Portugal, and Tanzania).

For those who do travel, new measures introduced Monday, also require visitors to sign a sworn declaration (available to be downloaded from the interior minister’s web site) stating that they have no symptoms of COVID-19 infection and have not been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to arrival.

Once in France, visitors must also obtain a vaccine certificate of equivalence that is valid on French territory, which can be obtained through measures instituted by the ministry of foreign affairs, in order to access certain events and places.

Atout France in Canada offers the following tips/advice:

How to have vaccines given abroad recognized in the French pass?

• For the “border pass”, foreign health proofs (vaccination scheme or test) are accepted in electronic or paper version.

• For the “activity pass,” the French government has set up equivalence systems in order to obtain a QR code valid on French territory for non-European nationals. The procedure is now carried out in a pharmacy in France, by presenting passport and proof of vaccination. The service can be invoiced for a price not exceeding €36 (CDN $50, taxes included). Details are available HERE. (https://www.sante.fr/how-to-obtain-a-french-health-pass).

• Additionally, visitors can write to canada@atout-france.fr to find a pharmacy near their place of stay.

• Alternatively, visitors can obtain the TousAntiCovid app via the Apple Store or Google Play and upload their negative tests results to obtain activities access.

Accepted vaccines/timelines: Pfizer (Comirnaty), Moderna, AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) and AstraZeneca (Covishield).

• 4 weeks if you received a single-dose injection (Johnson&Johnson);

• 7 days after the second injection for two-dose vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca);

• 7 days after the injection if you have recovered from COVID-19 (in this case, only one vaccine dose is necessary);

• 7 days after a booster ARNm dose (Moderna or Pfizer) after two shots of a vaccine on the WHO’s health emergencies list (Sinovac/Coronavac or Sinopharm/BBIB-PVeroCells)