The French Foreign Ministry has relaxed restrictions for travel between France and the UK, Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea, stating that “it will no longer be necessary to have a compelling reason to travel to or from” these countries.
The change – which takes affect from today (March 12, 2021) – has been made “due to the very wide dissemination of the British variant in France and the specific health situation in those countries”.
France introduced a ban on all non-essential travel outside the EU on January 31, and said in its latest statement:
“Five weeks after the introduction of a requirement for compelling reasons to travel outside the European area, these rules have been amended to take account of international developments in the epidemic and add a number of emergency situations which constitute compelling reasons”.
The additional list of acceptable “compelling, personal reasons” for travel to and from countries where the non-essential travel ban remains in place includes:
- married couples and couples in civil partnerships (PACS), where one member lives abroad for professional reasons
- minors attending school in France whose family home is abroad
- separated couples with children, one of the couple living in France and the other abroad
- students taking competitive examinations
- those returning to their main residence when it is in France
Al travellers arriving into France will still need to present a negative PCR test result taken less than 72 hours before departure.
