France adds Tunisia, Mozambique, Cuba and Indonesia to red travel list

France has added Tunisia, Mozambique, Cuba and Indonesia to its red travel list.

The government has also relaxed travel rules for people entering from a red country who are fully vaccinated with a vaccine recognised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The accepted vaccines are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, or vaccines recognised by the French health regulator as similar in composition and manufacture, notably the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine usually marked as Covishield.

These vaccinated travellers will now not need to have an essential reason for travelling to France, or take a pre-departure Covid test or quarantine on arrival in France.

They will only need to provide proof of their vaccination status and a déclaration sur l’honneur stating to not having Covid-related symptoms or having been recently in contact with someone with Covid-19.

People in red list countries who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with a vaccine accepted by France will still need to present an essential reason for travelling to France.

The essential reasons are mainly related to having the right to live and work in France.

A full list of reasons can be found at this link.

Non-fully vaccinated travellers from red-list countries must also:

• Carry out a period of self-isolation for 10 days upon arrival in France. There will be random police checks to make sure you follow this. You must provide proof of the address you will be staying at in France to travel authorities and/or border agents.
• Present the transport company and the border control authorities a negative PCR or antigen test dated less than 48 hours before departure (departure of the first flight in the case of a connecting journey). Children under the age of twelve are exempt from testing.
• Fill out a sworn statement attesting to the absence of symptoms of Covid-19 and of contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19
• Confirm you will accept a possible antigen test or biological examination to check for Covid-19, to be carried out on arrival in metropolitan France

The French government has stated that despite relaxing measures for vaccinated travellers coming from red countries, it continues to strongly advise against travel to red-listed countries.

Full list of countries on France’s red list:

Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Surinam, Uruguay, Tunisia and Zambia.