Variant concerns see France tighten travel rules

Tuesday 01 June 2021

France has tightened up its travel rules for people visiting the country from the British Isles due to concerns about the spread of the more transmissible variant of covid which was first discovered in India.

Coming into effect yesterday morning, the new rules are:

• “compelling reasons will be required for foreign nationals outside the EU not resident in France to travel to France from the UK;
• a PCR or antigen test less than 48 hours old will be required from anyone travelling to France from the UK;
• on their arrival, travellers are obliged to self-isolate for seven days. Due to the low incidence of covid in the UK, for the moment they will not be subject to systematic checks where they are staying.”

The new restrictions cover air, car, ferry and train travel and apply regardless of each traveller’s vaccination status.

Jersey’s current travel regime follows the UK’s ‘traffic light’ classifications, except for places with direct connections to the island. Travel from France is one of these exceptions and is assessed by region.

At the time of writing, the majority of the country is currently red, meaning travellers from there will have to isolate for at least 10 days on arrival in Jersey. 

There are two green zones (Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon) and two amber zones (Corse and Martinique).