Pass Sanitaire

We are in Paris now and applied for our passes 10 days ago still no news back from French government. In the meantime, tourist locations (museums, restaurants, etc) are taking our CDC cards with identification as proof enough to let us enter and participate so far. We have been here 3 days and no rejections. As for testing before we go home, I still am not certain which test is required and how long it takes to get back or where to go to get it in Paris…

I'd send a query using his case #. There is a link on the application website that shows your application which invites queries.

Wow! I applied on August 31 and nothing yet, except for the initial email saying my app was received. I did send an email today asking about the status of my application. Did not receive a reply so far. My application is still in construction.

We had luck submitting to the following e-mail address and received a pass sanitaire within 12 hours:
sec.se-cab@diplomatie.gouv.fr
Bonne chance!
Jason

My husb and I applied Sept 2 and thus far dead air. We leave Sept 26. I am done stressing about it. It is typical of the French to construct rules without having a plan for how to operationalize them. No offense intended. I love all things French and am of French family heritage.

I applied for my Pass Sanitaire on September 5th and haven’t heard anything. Because I was heading to Switzerland before France, I also applied for the Swiss covid pass via the cantons of Valais and Bern. My Swiss QR code from Valais came through on September 14th, the morning of my departure from the U.S. and I was able to import it into the French app and it has been working fine here in France since I got here two days ago. Super frustrating process though - I probably would submit a second French application because it sounds like that is working for some people!

What @janettravels44 said. I submitted mine and my husband's applications on the same day and received mine the very next morning. When his was still pending almost 3 weeks later, I sent a message through the messaging/query function in the application politely pointing out that it had been longer than the 15 days stated on the application and asking if any additional information was needed - I used Google Translate to write the message in French. We received his pass less than 24 hours later. Could be they have a lot of requests and yours just got lost.

We are in Paris now, applied Sept 3rd never received the pass. However, because we received one in Spain which was our first stop, we are able to use it here. I did not realize I could use it in any EU country.

Just submitted my request (arrival in France on October 9th). Once I got going with it, it took no time at all to complete. Makes me feel like I did something incorrectly, lol.

Just got back from two weeks in France. Tried to get the QR before departure. France is overloaded with requests apparently. After arriving in Paris we went to a local pharmacy and got the QR code. We showed our passport and CDC card. It costs 29 euros per person and took ten minutes. Your local hotel should have info on where you an get it. This said, we only used a color copy of our passport photo page and the original CDC card and were not turned away from anywhere we went.

Maybe this is documented somewhere but didn't see it so thought I would share

To get the definitive French Covid health pass "Passe Sanitaire" needed for public transport (trains in my case) and many other public venues, incl restaurants museums, etc, I followed this process and received my approvals & pass in less than 24 hrs. The entire application process was done from the U.S. (I don't travel until Oct 22nd):

1) I downloaded the Tous AntiCovid app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tousanticovid/id1511279125

2) it requires a QR code to be read into to it as proof of vaccination (aka EU Digital COVID Certificate)

3) I applied for the QR code here: https://www.demarches-simplifiees.fr/commencer/passe-sanitaire-etrangers

4) Create an account to submit an application- they required screenshots uploaded to their site of:

a) front of the CDC Vaccination Record
b) my passport (picture page)
c) screenshot of itinerary/ticket from the email sent by the airline
in the comment section, I provided my full 10 day itinerary & purpose of trip (and added Merci beaucoup!)

They emailed me less than 24 hrs later that my application was accepted and gave me a link to a PDF of the QR code.

I scanned the QR code into the Tous AntiCovid app - and I'm done!

DEbing25 consider yourself very lucky. I did the same as you, twice, and wrote asking about my application, and never heard anything.

It is 100% based on luck.

debing, What Frank said. Lots of people did exactly what you did and did not receive their QR code. Many people have reported one person got theirs but their travel partner (same application) did not.

What I might do is resubmit daily or even twice daily while their offices are open. Who knows, I might get lucky. Or.....I'm really thinking of cutting my trip to France short and spending my money in a country that doesn't make is so difficult to spend my money.

I refuse to have to pay for a test every three days just because the French government can't get their act together.

We just returned (Oct 3) from 2 wonderful weeks in Lyon, Avignon and Paris. We were there to see friends, hike/bike and eat well — and we did all with ease.

We applied for our passe sanitaire 3 weeks before departure and didn’t receive them until halfway through our trip. Based on someone else's smart suggestion in this forum, we used our NY Excelsior passes (rather then CDC cards) at restaurants, stores etc which are very similar to the French pass. Of course, the QR code didn’t work but didn’t seem to matter — since we clearly had vaccination proof — all good. We never encountered a single problem.

Departing JFK was a breeze — regular redcap check in – no one asked to see any covid related forms at all — literally 5 mins from drop off to departure area.

Took at least an hour to enter France at CDG — even with being able to utilize an EU passport to skip part of the line (easily saved an hour) since one of us was entering on a US passport and we didn’t have the passe sanitaire at that point, we were diverted into a non vaccinated line! Added about 30 mins to the process and ultimately the passport officer didn’t want to see anything.

We took the TGV from CDG (and from Avignon to Paris) -- we showed the Excelsior pass.

Departing France — very easy to get PCR test in the 3 day window before departure at a Bioaxiome lab in the small town we were in — popped in the day before to book and results back in a few hours. Check in process at CDG was very long and required showing the negative PCR many times. pretty much every other customer had an issue of some kind so line moved very slowly.

Overall — based on our experience, wouldn't be too concerned about visiting without the passe sanitaire in hand. It’s an interesting time to travel — everything open, bustling without being crowded — lots of French as well as EU tourists and some individual Americans/Brits – but no large tour groups. The French seem to have found a good balance for this Covid moment.

I applied twice in September and got two Pass sanitaire QR codes near the end of September. However, we cancelled our trip because neither of us had a pass sanitaire when we were supposed to leave from France, so we re-booked for the end of October and I got an email yesterday saying my pass sanitaire is cancelled because I was supposed to leave France on October 1st. My question is, do you need a different pass Sanitaire each time you go to France, or is it good for a year or 6 months?
I've submitted that question to contact@tousanticovid.gouv.fr, but haven't heard back yet. We are also booked to go there next April.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

rshanes...no one knows what's going on with the Pass Sanitaire. I've applied twice, sent questions about my status, and never heard anything. It seems there is no rhyme or reason. It's strictly luck of the draw. I will keep submitting but I doubt I will get my pass.

While parts of my France trip would cost me a lot of money to cancel, much of it will cost nothing to cancel. I'm probably going to reschedule to a country that wants me to come and spend my money. And that's just about every country in Europe except France.

I have to wonder if this is not a ploy by the French Government to make extra money from those who can't get the pass. They will be forced to get tested and that's increased income. Let's face it, there must be thousands of people in this predicament as other travel websites are discussing this problem.

People can probably tell I'm upset. I'm upset because the rules do not apply to everyone. Some get their pass and others have to jump through hoops and pay extra just to visit France. If everyone was treated the same, I'd be fine with that. But now my only recourse is to give France the one finger salute and change my plans.

Frank..I know you are upset, but I am just going to cut and paste what I said on the other post from rshane.

Too bad you cancelled.

I went to France from 9-19 through 9-23. Never had the Pass Sanitaire. My husband and I applied 3 times before I went, and I never received it. When I got to the airport, they never asked for it only our CDC card.

On the flight going to France from Prague, the airline had us fill out a passenger locator form they passed out on the plane.

While in Paris, to go to museums, restaurants, etc...they looked at our cdc card. My husband and I are double vaxxed and us citizens. we had no issues at all.

Hope this helps.

dang aimee. calm it down. it is not that serious.

yes, i only went to paris as far as my france trip went. sorry for saying too bad you cancelled, and your response is of no help either. so don't be a hypocrite.

and by the way, the too bad you cancelled comment had nothing to do with Frank, if you read what I said, it says I copied from another post. geez.

Yes...calm down.

Maybe in your life, you decide what's helpful and what is not, but at the end of the day, its a travel forum, and one opinion is not better than the other. It's what I experienced while traveling to Paris this last go round during this unfortunate time in the world.

So with that being said, Im going to keep it moving, cause I have things to do, and this is not a very good use of my time.

deuces.

tsnclr--your experience is good for you but it doesn't help me. I'm not going to Paris, I'm going to smaller towns. I have to wonder if my CDC card will be accepted on trains, at smaller museums, at non-food stores.

One's person experience does not answer the question for everyone else. If I was just going to Paris, I wouldn't worry.

And didn't you have the Spain pass which is good all over te EU?

Hi Frank,

The Spain QR code did not work for us in France. We did try it a few times, and it just did not work when we went to some museums and dinners. So we were able just to show our CDC card and get by that way. We did go from Villiers sur marne which is where my brother lives to Lyon on the Mont d"est train and also did not have an issue. Granted that is not far, but still.

My husband's CDC card was accepted at all sorts of small town establishments, museums and restaurants for the half of our trip that he didn't have his. He had actually received an acceptance that forgot to attach the QR code, he emailed daily and eventually it showed up.

I applied for my pass sanitaire Oct 3rd. I got my pass this morning. I still have to submit my wife's, but she is waiting for her updated passport.

Glenn

We applied for our pass mid-September and were supposed to already be there by now. Today, we just received contact from the French Government wanting us to up load our reservation of travel to France. First, I don't feel comfortable getting a plane or train ticket to France without first having the Pass Sanitaire. Additionally, the testing protocols of all the countries have become too big a hurdle and cost. I estimated the tests would have cost over a $1,000 by the end of our trip. And finally, but we've never gotten an answer to the question "What do we do if we were to test positive, where do we quarantine?"

We have cancelled our Fall trip and re-booked for April. Hopefully, the pandemic and it's necessary restrictions will have ended by then.