Will summer turn into a hassle for French people living abroad? Separated from their families for many months and sometimes since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in February 2020, many expatriate fellow citizens have planned to reunite with their loved ones during the summer break. A salutary reunion that could turn into a puzzle since the announcement, on July 12, of the extension of the health pass in France.
From next week, this device attesting to a negative PCR test, a Covid-19 contamination of less than six months or a complete vaccination will be mandatory to access “places of leisure and culture” gathering more than 50 people, and from 12 years old. At the beginning of August it will be extended to cafes, restaurants, shopping centers, as well as to planes, trains or coaches making long journeys. A shock measure to encourage the French to be vaccinated but which did not take into account certain parameters of the daily life of these “expats”.
Vaccines recognized but incompatible with the pass
First difficulty and not the least, the French health pass does not, for the time being, recognize vaccination certificates made in a country that is not a member of the European Union. Guillaume, 36, is living in Quebec with his wife and 3-year-old child. “We have planned to come to France in mid-August to see our family, whom we have not seen for almost 2 years. We are both doubly vaccinated and received a QR code quite similar to the European pass following a Pfizer vaccine, ”he says. Problem, the embassy explained to him that this Canadian QR Code was not accepted as valid proof to obtain the precious sesame, even though the vaccine issued is officially authorized by France and the European Union.
Indeed, on the government application TousAntiCovid which allows you to store your vaccination or screening certificate, it is specified that “vaccinations carried out abroad with a vaccine authorized in France are not entered in the Insurance teleservice. illness and cannot give rise to a French certificate. “
Like Guillaume, Hugues, 29, received his two injections of Pfizer in May and June in Australia. “But I have no way of being eligible for the health pass. From the month of August, I will therefore have no choice but to do PCR tests whenever I want to go to a bar, cinema, restaurant or if I want to visit my parents who do not live in the area. same region as me, ”he regrets. An “aberration” denounced by Carla, resident in Quebec: “I thought I was out of the galleys after my two injections […] but in the end, I still don’t know if I’ll be able to enjoy the summer if I come home. “
Alerted about this, several ministers have already reacted on Tuesday. On Twitter, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne assured that “French people living abroad who have received an approved vaccine or equivalent must be able to benefit from the health pass”. In front of the deputies, the Minister of Health told him that by “the promulgation of the law, we will have solved this problem and all the French people abroad. […] having a complete vaccination schedule will have an equivalence and will be able to circulate like the other citizens on the national territory ”.
Good news: the Minister of Health announced it, an equivalence solution will be proposed by next week. The #FdE vaccinated will benefit from #Health Pass, like all the French. We continue to work! pic.twitter.com/0RYgMDtXPq
– Roland Lescure (@RolandLescure) July 13, 2021
Unrecognized or unavailable vaccines
But some expatriates find themselves in even more complex situations. Settled in Jordan with her husband, Sabine received a letter from her embassy urging her to be vaccinated there. If her husband received a vaccine approved in France, she received a dose of the Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm. “This summer we have to go back to France and my vaccine is not recognized by Europe. I wrote to the Prime Minister to inform him of this state of affairs and I never received a response. How can you ask your nationals to follow a procedure and then not recognize it? ! », She exasperates.
Ahmed, 54, French living in Morocco, says he is “lost”. Like Sabine he was vaccinated with Sinopharm. “I had no other choice. I contacted the French consulate to find out what this involved but my interlocutor could not answer me. “This father, who must absolutely return to France this summer is apprehensive:” I do not know what to do or how to do. I spoke by video with a doctor to ask him if it was necessary and if I could get vaccinated again with another vaccine but he advised me against it, ”he wrote to 20 minutes.
The persistent “vagueness” on the concrete implementation of the extended health pass transforms for others the daily life in “impossible squaring of the circle”. At 51, Elizabeth works and lives in Japan. “The window allowing us to return to France to find parents and family was very narrow,” she says. After months of waiting, this expatriate finally received a first dose of vaccine but her child was unable to be and their return is scheduled for the beginning of August. However, in France, the constraints linked to the health pass will also apply from 12 years old.
Jennifer finds herself in the same situation. This mother living in Senegal was unable to have her 12-year-old son vaccinated there. “We will be in France in August and we do not know what we are going to be able to do with him”, she worries. This decision to extend the health pass, “without having anticipated” the cases of French people living abroad, makes Sabine “furious”: “It further complicates things for us when the context is already emotionally trying. It is really disregarding nationals abroad. “