UKC

Afternoon All,

Heading over to the French Alps next week from UK via Geneva.

Because the trip involves both France and Switzerland the Covid red tape looks fiendishly complicated.

Anyone worked out what's needed?

ta.

just come back from uk >france>switzerland>france> uk on Sunday. You need proof of double vaccination for anywhere you want to eat or drink out in France, Switzerland-no. if not double vaccinated, you'll need a recent french test i think (unsure of this). French were very strict about this. NHS QR code works fine though. Masks still needed in supermarkets etc

you now need UK sticker rather than GB on your vehicle.

don't think we did anything for getting into switzerland, though there may actually be some paperwork we should technically have completed, no one checked, i only realised we hadn't done this after leaving switzerland! 

Went out on eurotunnel and uploaded vaccine proofs on their website on the way out so we only got passport checked and that's it.

on the way back, as of Monday, you don't need to test in france before coming back to UK, only day 2 test in UK (we ordered an online kit to be sent to the house and got our results super quick).

and you need to complete passenger locator form before coming back to UK, bit of an annoying form online, but fairly easy.

*edit- we didn't need to do any tests to get into france, just vaccine status

Recently flew in to Geneva and on to Zermatt. You need to complete a Swiss gov passenger locator form in advance(link on the gov.uk site). You get a QR code via email from the Swiss gov and this is checked at Geneva airport customs. No code, no entry a few weeks ago. Just as we were leaving they brought in new restrictions requiring proof of vaccine status to enter bars/restaurants etc and this was being enforced in Zermatt.

Thanks ever so much for taking the time to get back to me.

Just a couple of points: Were you OK just using the NHS app for proof of being fully vaxed in France or did you use the French TousAntiCovid app? I've heard that it's tricky transferring the NHS data over.

Finally there's a swarm of ads for clinics offering day 2 tests. Could I ask who you used? A home test sounds way easier than visiting a clinic.

Thanks again.

Great, thanks for this.

There is an option to show a domestic or international Covid 19 pass. The international one has a lot more information encoded in the encrypted 2D bar code. They will be able to match this up to your passport using a suitable reader. Make sure you select international. A pdf print as backup is worth carrying as they can scan that.

My experience (4 weeks ago) - the TousAntiCovid app is very friendly. Downloaded from the UK app store it is in English. Assuming you have your NHS (international travel) QR codes printed or visible on another device you can choose the TAC app option of scanning a QR code using your smartphone camera and it drops it into the in-app wallet. Once for each code although just the second code is probably enough (it confirms jab 2 of 2.)

Book your day 2 test before filling in the passenger locator form (for which you need the test booking ref.) I used Nationwide Pathology Ltd for £40 (home test, posted to me and returned by post) which at the time was about the cheapest and had ok reviews. (No complaints from me other than an odd form using American date notation and only 1 person allowed per order / transaction.) The market may have changed since so check the .gov approved list etc. I recall reading of people let down by the test providers to which the solution seemed to be to call the NHS and they would send one to you.

we downloaded the pdf from the travel section of the NHS app and they scanned the 2 of 2 QR code on this ( as it provides 1 for each of the 2 vaccines if you've had two). There were no issues whatsoever doing this. I didn't use the TousAntiCovid app. Alternatively, family members living in france had a printed out version of a QR code which worked equally well. You do need to fully set up the NHS app in order to access the travel section, so again, worth sorting before you go if poss, just in case you have no internet etc.

For the 2 day test, we used Randox Health (£48 each). It says tests can take 6 days to get to you in the post so worth arranging at least a week before you go home (although ours was delivered within two days). Then once you've done it, you can find a drop box to post it, plenty around the country in the UK. and we had our results in less than 24 hrs.

also, for switzerland, bit of a kick in the teeth but worth bearing in mind in case you need internet access. I hadn't realised my roaming works fine in France but was charged an arm and a leg in Switzerland as it's outside of the EU whereas my partner's network was fine for roaming in both so we relied on his internet.